Social entrepreneurship to tackle energy poverty: a systematic literature review

Abstract

Energy poverty still affects more than 50 million people in Europe. Due to COVID-19 crisis this number may increase significantly. However, efforts to tackle this complex problem by different actors appear to be insufficient. The intersection of domains from different disciplines is increasingly of relevance in energy social science. Social entrepreneurs have the mission to solve social problems and could coordinate the energy poverty network. Considering the network nature of the energy poverty problem, we examine the collective social entrepreneur as a potential space to address energy poverty. A systematic literature review of the intersection among energy poverty, innovation and social entrepreneurship in developed countries can contribute to the discipline with a structure of the main concepts to assist all the actors involved. The discussion may analyse if the coordinated network will be able to mitigate the problem in a more effective (but not exclusive) way. Based on the outcomes of this systematic literature review potential new lines of research are identified within the intersection of the three domains.