Unlocking billions of Euros in co-benefits: A study of the macroeconomics of energy efficiency

Energy efficient (EE) buildings are designed to reduce energy consumption while providing healthier, safer, and more productive indoor environments. They also increase asset value, reduce pollution, and lower operating and maintenance costs. Assessing and quantifying such co-benefits ensures that the full value of energy efficiency in buildings is recognized, facilitating stronger stakeholder buy-in, better-informed policy decisions, and more robust business cases for energy efficiency projects. However, understanding and evaluating the co-benefits of EE buildings is often overlooked despite their multifaceted impact on environmental, social, and economic dimensions.

Three new studies conducted by the BUILD_ME team aim to provide an analysis of the co-benefits of EE buildings in the context of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region for each of the project’s target countries, Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon. They communicate the multiplicity of advantages these buildings offer and provide stakeholders with a clear understanding of how EE buildings contribute to environmental sustainability, economic growth, and social well-being. In these studies, a comparison is made between new construction baselines (BUILD_ME Energy Performance Certificate [EPC] level C) and the BUILD_ME cost-optimal (CostOpt) standards. The results are extrapolated from the building level to the national level and estimated for 10%, 30%, and 50% scenarios of new building stock being built to a EPC level A.

Key findings include:

• Every 1 EUR invested now potentially saves about 1.70 – 7.00 EUR in the future, depending on the country.
• Considering just 5 of the 14 potential co-benefits results in tens of billions of EUR potentially saved in each country in the next 20 years.
• Tens of thousands of jobs can be created by the green building market.
• There are hundreds of millions of EUR of potential savings in healthcare.

These studies highlight the immense potential of energy-efficient buildings to unlock billions of Euros in co-benefits, driving environmental sustainability, economic growth, and social well-being across the MENA region.

Click below to download the results for each of BUILD_ME’s target countries!