Economics of Green Transition Cities

This research paper presents a prioritization methodology for demand-side water efficiency measures in cities, applying an adapted version of the Economics of Low Carbon development strategies for Cities (ELCC) framework to the domestic sector of Bologna, Italy.

• The study applied an adapted ELCC framework to Bologna's domestic sector, evaluating eight measures based on capital investment, annual savings, payback period, and consumption reduction. Six of these measures demonstrated attractive payback periods, potentially yielding €10.2 million in annual savings.
• The research identifies two investment scenarios for Bologna: an upfront investment of €17 million could equip a feasible subset of households with five cost-effective measures to reduce domestic water consumption by 34% by 2020 (relative to 2012 levels). An additional investment of €28.5 million would allow for more expensive appliances, increasing the total water reduction to 37% by 2020.
• The paper concludes that existing urban energy efficiency strategy approaches can be successfully extended to include demand-side water efficiency, contributing to an integrated water-energy-food Nexus approach for city-level green development.

APA

Stockholm Environment Institute (2016). Economics of Green Transition Cities. https://www.sei.org/publications/economics-of-green-transition-cities/

Chicago

Stockholm Environment Institute. Economics of Green Transition Cities. 2016. https://www.sei.org/publications/economics-of-green-transition-cities/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Stockholm Environment Institute |title=Economics of Green Transition Cities |date=29 January 2016 |url=https://www.sei.org/publications/economics-of-green-transition-cities/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{stockholmenvironmentinstitute2016economics, author = {{Stockholm Environment Institute}}, title = {{Economics of Green Transition Cities}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2016}, month = jan, url = {https://www.sei.org/publications/economics-of-green-transition-cities/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }