Highlighting the business case for energy efficiency

10 September 2026

The European Commission’s De-Risking Energy Efficiency Platform (DEEP) has published new data showing that higher energy prices have strengthened the business case for energy efficiency investments.

The platform, which serves as an open-source database for the analysis of energy efficiency investments and their performance, now includes over 52,900 new projects from Germany and the United States, covering the years from 2019-2025 and 2023-2025.  

The newly added European projects show that median payback times on energy investments have decreased since 2022 in both buildings and industry. Indeed, the median payback time has shortened from 5.2 years before 2022 to 4.7 years after 2022 in buildings, and from 4 to 3 years in industry. 

Similarly, the avoidance cost – the savings resulting from not having to buy or generate additional energy – increased in buildings from 3.3 to 5 Eurocent/kWh. These numbers confirm that the higher energy prices in recent years have strengthened the economic case for energy efficiency improvements. 

A relaunch of the platform is planned for the second half of this year and is expected to include additional data from the European Investment Bank and national energy agencies, among others. This evidence is set to be presented in October this year in a webinar organised by the European Energy Efficiency Financing Coalition.