Business as not usual: a systematic literature review of social entrepreneurship, social innovation, and energy poverty to accelerate the just energy transition

Abstract

Energy poverty still affects more than 37 million people in Europe. Due to the COVID-19 crisis, this number may increase significantly. However, efforts to tackle this complex problem have thus far proved insufficient. The intersection of domains from different disciplines is increasingly relevant within energy social science. Social entrepreneurship has a mission to alleviate social problems. Thus, the role of social entrepreneurship and social innovation in tackling energy poverty, although still an emerging area of research, is receiving increasing attention. With an aim to contribute to assessing the state of the research on this topic, a systematic literature review was developed on the intersection between energy poverty, social innovation, and social entrepreneurship in countries in the Global North. The results of the review show the central dimensions of social entrepreneurship and social innovation outlined by researchers, such as the collective and network nature of social entrepreneurship, hybrid skills, proximity, involvement of households, and a user-centred approach, shedding light on the primary potentialities of interventions in energy poverty driven by the social entrepreneurship phenomenon. Such findings may help social entrepreneurs and innovators, as well as policymakers, recognise possibilities and challenges in the field. Based on the outcomes of this review, potential new avenues for research within the intersection of the three domains are identified.