When the political is intersectional: comparing energy poverty policies in England, Scotland and France using intersectionality theory

Energy poverty persists despite continuous policy efforts. To the author’s knowledge, intersectionality theory has never been used to study policy responses to energy poverty. We suggest it supports the development of holistic and transformative policies. To compare how energy poverty policies in the housing sector are framed and to what extent they engage with intersectionality theory in England, Scotland and France, we apply the Intersectionality Based Policy Analysis framework invia document analysis of policies, . Our findings show that intersectionality thinking is present to various degress across policies, where, notably, disabilities and age are considered. We argue that including gender and ethnicity and highlighting the interaction between intersectional factors would contribute to fairer policy outcomes across contexts. Our analysis explores how shifting away from the neoliberal solutions implemented in England and France could better support people experiencing energy precarity. We offer recommendations to integrate intersectionality approaches across policy contexts, enabling fairer policy outcomes.