Creating an Ecosystem Concept for Scalable Green Mortgages

Decarbonising the real estate sector per the Paris Agreement requires rapid and significant renovation of existing buildings, targeting half the stock by 2040, with an annual global investment of USD 700 billion. Green mortgages offering financial incentives for environmentally compliant homes, are a promising tool to encourage renovations, but have seen slow uptake and remain underdeveloped. This paper uses an explorative research approach with participatory workshops to create an initial ecosystem concept for green mortgages, addressing the challenges of slow adoption and inefficiency. We identify the necessary network of participants for effective green mortgage implementation and describe value-creation mechanisms for ecosystem participants. Our tentative green mortgage ecosystem concept presents value-creation opportunities with significant implications for practitioners, the public sector, and society. Next steps involve developing a shared logic and governance system for the ecosystem. Future research should explore whether introducing decentralised technologies, like blockchain, could add value, as literature suggests, and validate the concept across varying contexts.