The Modernisation Fund is often treated as a technical financing tool. In reality, it is one of the most structural instruments in EU climate policy.

In this episode, Marine Cornelis speaks with Morgan Henley, campaigner at CEE Bankwatch, about how the Modernisation Fund shapes energy systems in Central and Eastern Europe. Drawing on concrete examples from district heating, the conversation shows how funding design and governance choices lock in infrastructure pathways for decades.

The episode examines why the Fund’s low political visibility enables priority drift, how limited scrutiny reinforces incumbent interests, and why these dynamics matter most in countries with constrained fiscal space. Rather than focusing on technologies, the discussion centres on power, accountability, and the long-term consequences of how climate money flows.

This is a conversation about why climate credibility is built through governance, not announcements.

Topics covered

• The Modernisation Fund as a structural EU instrument

• Governance gaps and low political visibility

• Priority drift and incumbent advantage

• District heating as a long-term system choice

• Why funding design determines transition outcomes

CEE Bankwatch report on the Modernisation Fund (2026)

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Europe has set ambitious targets for clean heating. Heat pumps are central to that strategy. Yet deployment continues to slow, especially in multi-apartment buildings and social housing.

In this episode, Marine Cornelis explores why.

Joined by Vladimir Gjorgievski and Louise Meister, the conversation moves beyond technology to examine how clean heating actually works in real buildings.

Drawing on experiences from North Macedonia and Austria, the episode looks at:

• why heating and cooling must be planned together,

• how sector coupling translates into comfort, resilience, and bill stability,

• why upfront costs and risk allocation remain major barriers,

• and how business models and coordination determine success in collective housing.

The discussion also reflects on lessons from contexts with limited gas infrastructure, the role of energy communities and flexibility, and what alignment means for EU and national policy frameworks.

A grounded, systems-level conversation on scaling clean heating without shifting cost and risk onto residents.

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Why does the energy sector keep trying to explain, rather than designing better?

In this episode of Energ’Ethic, Marine Cornelis speaks with Sean Layerle, Managing Partner at Baalbek Insights, about a stubborn reflex in the energy transition: the belief that low adoption can be fixed by better explanations.

With 14 years in Silicon Valley and experience across five continents, Sean has worked at the forefront of digital energy products, demand-side management, and behavioural science, including roles at Opower and EnerNOC. Today, he supports energy and tech companies as electrification, flexibility and distributed energy resources accelerate.

Together, they unpack why tech-first thinking persists, how behavioural biases quietly shape energy decisions, and why collecting more data rarely leads to better customer understanding.

The conversation moves from early lessons in demand response to today’s challenge: designing digital products that align with real human motivations, not expert assumptions.

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Cities are on the front line of the energy transition. They are also where energy poverty is most visible.

In this episode of Energ’Ethic, Marine Cornelis talks with Dr Eduardo Blanco from Energy Cities, coordinator of the POWER UP project.

The episode covers:

• Social energy players and new local business models

• Municipal leadership and public risk-taking

• Neighbourhood-scale solutions

• Concrete lessons from European pilot cities

Eduardo explains why building fair energy systems looks less like engineering and more like embroidery. Slow, precise and deeply human.

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This episode is a departure — in the best possible way.

Instead of an interview, Energ' Ethic host Marine Cornelis takes listeners inside the speech she delivered in Besançon for the French Day against Energy Poverty. A space filled with people who meet energy vulnerability every day: social workers, housing professionals, energy advisers, local officials. People who understand the transition not as a strategy, but as the temperature inside a room, the state of a wall, the anxiety behind an energy bill.

The speech is in French, Marine’s mother tongue, because some truths land differently when spoken in the language where they were first felt.

In this reflection, Marine revisits ten years of European policy through the lens of the people these laws are meant to protect. She digs into what happens when efficiency outruns dignity, why energy vulnerability has nothing to do with a simplistic income line, and how equity reshapes the right to energy in a continent living through rising bills and increasingly hostile summers.

You will hear stories from homes across Europe, observations from the frontlines, and a clear-eyed look at what rebuilding trust actually requires: proximity, responsibility, and the ability to confront vulnerability without looking away.

This episode invites you to slow down.
To feel the spaces where policy becomes life.
To remember that energy justice is not decorative language — it is the condition for a society that holds.

A different format for Energ’Ethic.
And a necessary one.

Listen to the full speech.

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Erman Erogan, Policy and Campaign Officer at CAN Europe, joins Energ’Ethic to discuss the Build Better Lives campaign and Europe’s race to deliver affordable, energy-efficient homes.

Europe’s homes tell a story — one of rising bills, cold rooms, and missed opportunities for fairness and comfort. But a new chapter is being written. The EU is reshaping its housing future through the Affordable Housing Dialogue, the first European Affordable Housing Plan, the Affordable Housing Initiative, and the New European Bauhaus, which reimagines places that are sustainable, beautiful and inclusive.

At the heart of this transformation stands the Build Better Lives campaign, coordinated by CAN Europe. Bringing together over 95 organisations from across housing, social justice, youth, and climate movements, it calls for renovation that delivers affordable, energy-efficient, and people-centred homes.

In this episode, Erman Erogan shares how renovation becomes powerful when it moves beyond walls — when it starts with people and spreads across neighbourhoods: “This is more than just adding a layer of insulation. This talks about your home, your comfort place, your relationship with your neighbours and your community.”

Erman explains why district-level renovation can accelerate the energy transition and strengthen local trust. Drawing from cases across the EU, he shows how integrated planning can combine energy efficiency, affordability, and inclusion.

“A good 40 percent of all waste generated in Europe is building waste. We need a culture shift that makes renovation the norm.”

We discuss how circular construction, reuse of materials, and fair labour conditions can make the upcoming EU policies deliver lasting change. From Swedish projects that trained residents to German schemes that froze heating costs, the conversation reveals what equitable renovation looks like in practice.

For Erman, success depends on aligning EU frameworks around ambition and justice. The goal: better buildings that create better neighbourhoods, and better neighbourhoods that sustain better lives.

European Citizens' Initiative HouseEurope! Power to Renovation

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Europe knows it must move fast on renewables and grid infrastructure. But speed without fairness only builds friction.

In this episode, Marine Cornelis speaks with Arthur Hinsch, Senior Expert at ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability, about the Fast and Fair Renewables & Grids Initiative — a first-of-its-kind European consensus on how to scale up solar, wind, and grid projects while ensuring that local communities see real benefits and have a voice.

Endorsed by a broad alliance — from WindEurope and SolarPower Europe to Energy Cities, REScoop.eu, CAN Europe, EEB, and the European Youth Energy Network — the initiative sets out five principles defining what “fair” looks like on the ground.

Arthur shares what it took to reach agreement among actors who rarely sit at the same table. He explains how fairness is not a barrier to progress, but a condition for it — and how a new checklist for local governments can help mediate tensions, bring transparency, and get projects off the ground faster.

He also reflects on his own path from studying Japanese culture to shaping European energy diplomacy, and why, after steering this landmark collaboration, he’s taking a sabbatical in Japan to reconnect with long-term thinking.

Highlights:

• Why fairness and speed are inseparable in Europe’s energy transition.

• The five principles behind the Fast and Fair Renewables & Grids Initiative.

• How local mayors can use the new checklist to talk with citizens and developers.

• What makes this cross-sector agreement unique — and replicable.

• Arthur’s reflections on collaboration, balance, and what Japan might teach Europe.

Explore the initiative: https://fastandfairenergy.eu

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Special episode recorded live at the ACCE closing event

What if the most powerful technology for the energy transition wasn’t digital, but human?

In this Energ’Ethic special, recorded live in Brussels, Marine Cornelis brings together the voices behind Access to Capital for Community Energy (ACCE) — a project that helped citizens across Europe finance their own energy future.

From Romania to Belgium, from Croatia to the UK, communities built cooperatives, social funds, and ethical banking partnerships. What they discovered went far beyond kilowatts: finance can build trust, resilience, and democracy.

Highlights

• Europe as Enabler – CINEA’s Michele Sansoni on how EU support is nurturing a new generation of energy communities.
• From Growth to Maturity – REScoop.eu’s Sara Tachelet on a movement growing stronger and more professional.
• Courage in Romania – Camelia Sava’s team created a social fund and powered a kindergarten, despite limited resources.
• Federations as Translators – Energie Samen and Énergie Partagée show how local networks bridge citizens and finance.
• Solidarity in Action – Energy4All’s Mark Luntley on turning citizen investment into global cooperation.
• Equal Rights, Everywhere – Corina Murafa calls for citizens in all EU countries to access and finance energy fairly.
• Keeping Money Local – Dirk Vansintjan reminds us every euro reinvested strengthens communities.

Takeaway

Finance works best when it is a dialogue — between citizens, financiers, and institutions.
When done well, it becomes a tool for trust

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