2025 has been the year when the real estate sector realised that decarbonisation brings commercial opportunity and competitive advantage. The catalyst has been a need to safeguard asset value, which has meant more focus on attracting and retaining occupiers, meeting their ESG requirements and managing the performance of buildings. 
 
Another trigger has been the huge acceleration of the electrification of heat and transport.  In the UK, for example, electric vehicles now represent 28% of new car sales, zero-emission HGV registrations surged 341% in Q3 2025, and heat pump installations grew 56% in 2024. This has reshaped building energy demand, creating unprecedented pressure on grid infrastructure and changing the economics of property operations. As a result, we predict a huge surge in energy as a service (EaaS) in 2026. 
 
With electricity costs significantly higher than gas, the shift to electrification becomes prohibitive without EaaS. Solar panels alone won't deliver net zero. Smart procurement, demand reduction battery storage, intelligent load management, and demand response are all essential to making electrification economically viable.

But the real opportunity extends far beyond cost management. In the UK, for instance, the National Energy System Operator (NESO) is actively seeking increased grid flexibility from the market, creating a significant opportunity for commercial real estate. Buildings that can modulate consumption, store energy, and participate in demand response programmes will be increasingly valuable for landlord and the UK’s energy security. 
 
EaaS also provides the infrastructure and commercial framework to unlock this flexibility at scale, transforming real estate from passive energy consumers into active grid participants, increasing NOI and creating tangible value.
 
Institutional recognition is accelerating too. The Association of Real Estate Funds (AREF) have highlighted EaaS as a critical enabler for meeting net zero commitments whilst maintaining asset performance. Their endorsement reflects growing understanding that decarbonisation cannot be achieved through tenant goodwill alone – it requires landlords to take control of energy infrastructure and management.
 
The European dimension adds further urgency. Across the continent, increasingly stringent energy performance regulations are making stranded assets a material risk. The UK's forthcoming changes to Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards and similar frameworks in France, Germany, and the Netherlands mean that landlords must invest in energy systems regardless. EaaS transforms this compliance cost into a value creation opportunity.
 
What makes 2026 the inflection point? Several factors are converging: technology costs for solar, battery storage, and smart building systems have reached viability; regulatory frameworks are crystallising around grid flexibility; and crucially, the capital is available. Infrastructure investors recognise that energy systems in commercial real estate offer long-term, inflation-linked returns secured against physical assets. This electrification wave fundamentally changes building energy profiles - creating both challenges and opportunities that EaaS is uniquely positioned to address.
 
At Carb0n, we are already delivering landlord-funded EaaS solutions across diverse asset classes, creating micro-grids for logistics parks, retrofitting battery storage and tailored energy procurement for hotels and implementing demand-response programmes for commercial offices. There will be a boom in energy as a service, because it is commercial real estate's answer to energy volatility and creating value from net zero.