Italian Correlation Analysis – 2020

In the last decade, energy efficiency (EE) has been considered as one of the major tools for addressing climate change, as it allows to reduce energy consumption (depending mainly from imported fossil fuels) and, therefore, also greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. For this precise reason, and given the growing environmental concern among society, EE has been integrated first in the EU 2020 goals and hereafter in the EU 2030 goals, both defining specific targets in terms of CO2 emissions, renewable energy use in power generation, and EE. 

More specifically, EE in the building sector presents not only the advantage to reduce the EU’s final energy consumption (according to BPIE (2015), buildings were responsible for almost 40% of the EU energy bill), but also the benefit to improve living and health conditions. Furthermore, investments in EE are believed to lead to: i) an increased valuation of real estate; ii) a decreased solvency risk for owners; iii) a reduced lending risk for banks and financial institutions. Moreover, in the COVID and post-COVID era, EE mortgage assets (EEMA) can be seen as a complementary tool for the sustainability transition, triggering a considerable growth capacity and focusing precisely on buildings, without causing an additional burden for governmental and EU expenditures and with possible implementation across the European Community.