Transforming Energy Efficiency into a Transactable Resource
The LIFE GEAR-UP project is pioneering a new market framework that transforms energy efficiency from an invisible saving into a measurable, tradable, and investable energy resource. By treating avoided energy use as “Efficiency Energy” comparable to solar or wind generation, GEAR-UP creates the conditions for energy efficiency to become a fully bankable asset class capable of attracting institutional capital and accelerating deep renovation across Europe’s commercial building stock.
Although energy efficiency is widely recognised as the EU’s “first fuel,” it remains largely unstandardised and non-transactable. This limits large-scale investment, slows renovation rates, and reinforces structural barriers such as split incentives between building owners and tenants, reliance on deemed savings, and the lack of long-term, performance-based financing. GEAR-UP addresses these challenges by introducing a transaction structure that enables the measurement, certification, and monetisation of metered avoided energy use.
At the core of the project is the GEAR Framework, which combines advanced metering, digital data platforms, and new contractual models to align building owners, tenants, energy service providers, utilities, and investors around long-term, deep retrofit strategies. The framework supports performance-based investment through instruments such as Efficiency Energy Power Purchase Agreements and long-term Energy Services Agreements, shifting the market from short-term, single-technology interventions toward integrated, multi-technology renovation programmes.
GEAR-UP is fully aligned with the EU policy landscape, notably the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, the Energy Efficiency Directive, the Renovation Wave, and the Smart Readiness Indicator. By embedding advanced metering infrastructure and interoperable data standards, the project enables transparent, real-time verification of energy savings and compliance with emerging regulatory and ESG requirements. This creates a credible basis for recognising Efficiency Energy as a new, low-risk, long-duration investment product.
The framework is being validated through pilot projects in commercial buildings in Ireland and Spain. These pilots will demonstrate the technical performance of the “Efficiency Energy Meter,” test contractual and financial structures, and assess environmental and financial impacts, including CO₂ reductions, energy cost savings, and capital mobilisation. Together, they will generate replicable models for scaling the approach across Member States and building typologies.
A key innovation is the development of an independent certification scheme operated by the Sustainable Energy Finance Association (SEFA). Using standardised methodologies and smart-meter data, SEFA will verify and certify avoided energy use, ensuring transparency, credibility, and investor confidence. This enables Efficiency Energy to be treated as a reliable, tradable resource, supporting long-term financing and secondary market development.
By transforming energy efficiency into a transactable asset, LIFE GEAR-UP directly supports the EU’s climate neutrality objectives, accelerates deep renovation, reduces energy costs for businesses, and unlocks a new sustainable investment class. The project positions Efficiency Energy not only as a policy priority, but as a market-ready resource capable of delivering scalable decarbonisation and long-term economic value across Europe’s built environment.