• TENANTS UNIONS FOR CLIMATE, HEALTHY HOMES

    AND ENERGY JUSTICE

    Transforming homes, protecting lives: tenants everywhere are rising for renovations that are just, affordable, and democratic

  • EUROPEAN ORGANIZING SCHOOL FOR JUST RENOVATIONS

    Across multiple countries, organizations are building a tenants’ movement that connects the struggle for safe, affordable housing with the urgency of the climate crisis. Energy-leaky, unhealthy homes are both a social injustice today and a climate threat tomorrow.

    The Tenants 4 Climate Organising School is a space where methods travel and experiences become collective resources.

    Tenants in Charleroi have organised to force their landlord to start renovations. In Germany, hundreds of climate activists have joined and strengthened tenants’ unions. In Lyon, tenants are fighting against heat trap homes and extreme summer heat. These struggles, rooted in different contexts, feed a shared toolbox for tenant-led climate action across Europe.

    To make renovation truly beneficial for the people who live in these buildings, four conditions are essential: security, affordability, health, and democracy.

    Security against evictions

    No tenant should lose their home because of renovation. Fighting renovictions and green gentrification is the first defense line of a just transition.

    Affordability and fair rents

    Renovations must be treated as maintenance, not a pretext for rent hikes. In places like Germany, tenant unions challenge legal frameworks that let landlords profit from “energy modernisation.”

    Health and habitability first

    In cities like Charleroi, tenants cannot talk about insulation without addressing mold, dampness, or structural hazards. Energy upgrades must be embedded in a broader demand for safe, healthy homes.

    Democratic control over the works

    From Lyon to Toronto, tenants demand oversight and decision-making power to prevent inadequate, incomplete, or cosmetic renovations that fail to meet their actual needs.

  • Here is the summary document presenting the key lessons & challenges from tenant mobilizations in four countries, translated into the four languages

  • Fighting for renovations that protect people, improve daily life, and reduce carbon emissions, without sacrificing tenants’ rights.

  • HOW TENANTS UNIONS BUILD POWER TO WIN JUST RENOVATIONS

    A strategic vision only becomes real through day-to-day organising: building tenant groups, targeting the worst buildings, and escalating pressure until renovations are won on just terms. ACORN affiliates are already experimenting with concrete methods that turn abstract demands into victories.

    1

    Mapping and targeting leaky homes

    2

    Door-to-door organising

    3

    Forming tenant groups and collective bargaining Units

    4

    Combining technical and legal expertise

    5

    Escalating collective action

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    Mapping and targeting leaky homes

    Data analysis to identify and map homes to target :

    Mixing 3 data bases :

    - Technical/building energy performance diagnosis

    - Social information on neighbourhoods

    - Tax info on property structure

    Using tools like DPE data (France), energy contract analysis (Germany), or manually built micro-databases, organisers identify priority buildings and reveal systemic energy injustice.

    Mapping provides key info for organizers to target building and identify iconic battles. A tracking map allows you to follow progress. The mapping can then be used to advocate for ecological planing with local authority.

    Resources :

    https://www.albedya.fr/

    https://cartographie-tezeloma.streamlit.app/

    https://gorenove.fr/

    https://immobilier.pappers.fr

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    Door-to-door organising

    After identifying building to target thanks to mapping, the best way to meet people is to knock to their door.

    Use six key questions to surface issues, build commitment, and recruit leaders—tenant unions create collective power at the scale of each building.

    1. "What problems have you noticed ?"

    2. "Who's responsible ?"

    3. "Who else is facing similar problems ?"

    4. "What can we do ?"

    5. Pitch the organization + "Do you want to join the union ?"

    Resources :

    Guide for door knocking interviews - SozialeWarmewende

    https://chieforganizer.org/training/

    Download detail technical support for door knocking here

    Tenants For Climate Communication Guidelines

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    Forming tenant groups and collective bargaining Units

    Organised groups submit united demands to landlords, shifting negotiations from individual complaints to collective pressure.

    Bring tenants together in meeting to build collective power. Use letter templates to go step by step : invidual demands, collective letter, formal notice, notice of action/strike.

    Resources :

    Leadership Development Technical Sheet

    Meeting facilitation tools

    Letter templates

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    Combining technical and legal expertise

    Thermal engineers, energy experts, and lawyers strengthen campaigns, providing credibility and counter-expertise when landlords hide behind technical arguments.

    Build your supporting expert team.

    Resources :

    https://www.zerologementmalade.org/

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    Escalating collective action

    Petitions, banners, public meetings, media pressure, office occupations, and, when necessary, rent strike threats all help force landlords and authorities to deliver just renovations.

    Resources :

    https://uclpress.co.uk/book/rent-strikes/

    Organizing an action

  • TENANTS' STORIES - ORGANIZING FOR CLIMATE-JUST HOME

  • Presentation of contexts and strategies in the four countries

    Tenants 4 climate Organizing school 2025 webinars: Czech Rep., Germany, Belgium, France

  • FOUNDING MEMBERS OF TENANTS4CLIMATE

    MORE INFORMATION ON OUR STRUGGLES

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    CaroLocataires Ensemble in Belgium

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    Locataires Ensemble in France

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    Re-Set in Czech Republic

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    RWDH in Belgium

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    Soziale Wärmwende in Berlin

  • CONTACT US

  • Tenants4Climate is an exchange and training program supported by Erasmus+

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