Human Rights Measure

The Ministry of Planning’s Recovery and Resilience Plan was enacted as an “instrument . . . to mitigate the economic and social impact of the [COVID-19] crisis.”  It contains a “component [that] aims to rehabilitate and make buildings more energetically efficient” to, among other things, achieve “social, environmental and economic benefits for people and businesses.” The goals of the program include: “reducing greenhouse gas emissions by greatly reducing significant energy consumption” and the “reduction of energy poverty.” The Vale Eficiência program, which is “part of Portugal’s Recovery and Resilience Plan,” forms “part of a set of measures aimed at combating energy poverty” in order to, among other things, increase the “energy and environmental performance” of buildings. The program “intend[s] to deliver 100,000 ‘efficiency vouchers’ to economically vulnerable families by 2025, worth €1,300 plus VAT (Value Added Tax) each, so that they can invest in improving the thermal comfort of their home.” It “also intends to stimulate economic and social development, with the involvement of local and national companies, which will provide services to families under this programme, boosting the recovery of the economy, the generation of wealth and the job creation.”