Madushika, U G D and Lu, W (2026) Policy strategies for green retrofitting adoption: A systematic review and future directions. International Journal of Construction Management, 26(5), pp. 805-824. ISSN 1562-3599
Abstract
Green retrofitting is one of the prompt actions to mitigate the adverse issues associated with existing buildings. However, challenges have hindered progress despite policy efforts. Existing studies focus on regional policies, leaving a gap in global reviews of policy impacts on green retrofitting adoption. 43 articles were chosen from a total of 385 articles screened through a systematic review approach via three databases and cross-referencing. A follow-up analysis was then conducted based on descriptive and content analyses. Descriptive analysis reveals Europe has made significant contributions, and China features prominently in publications. Further, most of the policy studies mainly focus on the residential sector and energy retrofitting. Based on the content analysis, five areas were discussed: green retrofitting-related policy classification, their interrelationships, how policy instruments influence barrier mitigation, how policy instruments behave in key phases of retrofitting, and research limitations and future needs of this domain. Given that existing studies predominantly examine developed economies, the current study can serve as a roadmap for regions in the early stages of green retrofitting adoption. The findings provide a holistic view of green retrofitting policies to both academia and industry practitioners to uptake the efficient penetration of this concept in the future.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | barriers; existing buildings; future directions; green retrofitting; policy classification; policy instruments; review |
| Index terms: | database, Europe, energy retrofitting, mitigation, academia, China, practitioner, strategy, publication, content analysis, policy impact, systematic literature review, retrofitting, penetration, policy instrument |
| Subjects: | Geography, data analysis and analytics, educational institutions, policy studies, practitioner, market analysis, renovation and retrofit, physical geography and landforms, design practice, research dissemination and communication, research evaluation and metrics, financial risk, management, data management |
| Topics: | Digital Applications, Information Management, Governance, Design Practice, Roles and Professions, Research Practice, Cost Management, Education, Business Strategy, Geographical Context, Engineering Principles |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCEA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here