How can green value recapture support EPBD implementation? Private activation, redistributive leverage and assisted compliance in Italy

The recast energy performance of buildings directive (EPBD) raises a major implementation challenge in countries with ageing residential stock, fragmented ownership, and limited owner capacity to finance retrofit. This study investigates whether green value recapture can support EPBD implementation by capturing part of the real estate value increase generated by energy upgrading and reallocating it to collective purposes without undermining owner's feasibility. The mechanism is conceptualized as a property-linked betterment contribution: Energy-related value uplift is assessed upon completion of the retrofit, and a predetermined share is allocated to a municipal or regional revolving retrofit fund through a deferred repayment arrangement. An exploratory multi-objective framework is developed and applied to an illustrative pilot-based small sample of ten inefficient residential units in Rome (Italy). Four policy scenarios are compared: No minimum energy performance standards, EPBD compliance without financial support, assisted compliance through a zero-interest loan, and assisted compliance through a concessional loan. The model evaluates total energy benefit, the owner-side property-value balance and social benefit, while comparing upfront owner-side costs with the discounted present value of repayment streams in financed scenarios. Solutions are selected through a balanced property-value-feasible rule that retains only configurations in which the property-value uplift remaining after recapture is sufficient to cover the effective owner-side cost. The results indicate that, in non-assisted scenarios, the property-value uplift retained by the owner is sufficient to cover the effective retrofit cost only within a narrow range of recapture levels. Financial support substantially enlarges this property-value-based feasibility range. Zero-interest lending provides the greatest stability across the tested recapture levels, while concessional lending also improves feasibility but with lower resilience under stronger redistributive pressure. The findings suggest that green value recapture is unlikely to function as a stand-alone implementation tool. Its potential appears greater when embedded in broader assisted-compliance arrangements that combine redistributive goals with financial support and preserve an adequate owner-side property-value margin