The protection of the right to energy through the European Social Charter

Abstract The (Revised) European Social Charter [(R)ESC] does not explicitly protect a right to energy. However, in this article I show that recent developments in the ESC system suggest that aspects of this right are increasingly protected under the treaty. This increasing implicit protection is suggested, firstly, by the recent case law of the European Committee of Social Rights (ECSR), following a collective complaint raising questions related to access to adequate energy. Secondly, the increasing protection of aspects of the right to energy follows recent innovation in the reporting procedure of the treaty, leading to an ad hoc reporting procedure on social rights in the cost-of-living crisis. In its recent case law and ad hoc report, paired with the adoption of a Statement of Interpretation, the ECSR has integrated claims to energy access in the interpretation of a series of ESC rights, and it has outlined new states’ obligations.