This policy brief presents the results of two research lines that examine the distributional impacts of energy-efficiency policies in Italy. Together, the studies provide novel evidence on how household socio-economic conditions, building characteristics, and policy design shape both access to energy-efficiency measures and the ability to achieve adequate levels of thermal comfort.
The analyses cover the Italian population as a whole, through microdata on energy-efficiency investments, and a highly vulnerable subset (public housing tenants) through a pilot survey. The first study investigates the distributional effects of Italy’s flagship tax incentives for residential retrofitting: the Ecobonus and the Superbonus.
Using newly collected microdata from the Italian Survey of Consumer Expectations (ISCE), administered in October 2024 to more than 5,000 households, the results indicate that the incentives have been mildly regressive. In fact, higher-income households were significantly more likely to undertake renovation works and captured a larger share of public resources.
However, when focusing only on households that carried out retrofits and used at least some public funds, the distribution of benefits becomes much more equitable, even slightly progressive. The observed regressivity, therefore, arises not from unequal treatment among beneficiaries, but from unequal access to retrofitting.
These findings highlight the need to complement tax-based incentives with additional measures to ensure that the green transition does not reinforce existing inequalities. The second study describes a pilot survey conducted among 249 households living in public residential housing in the province of Reggio Emilia. By combining survey responses with administrative and technical data on buildings, this research provides a picture of socio-economic vulnerability, energy expenditures, and perceived comfort.
The evidence reveals a population facing overlapping hardships: very low incomes and elevated energy expenses relative to income. The housing stock is often old and energetically inefficient, and this exacerbates these vulnerabilities. Although tenants express awareness of the need for housing improvements, their willingness to pay even modest rent increases is extremely limited.
