Evaluating owners’ endogenous dynamics in green retrofit of existing industrial buildings

The green retrofit of existing industrial buildings is a critical strategy for energy conservation, emission reduction, and carbon neutrality, and is essential for achieving the ‘dual-carbon’ goals. Although the effective operation of this market relies on the endogenous dynamics of owners, this role remains underexplored. This study constructs a multi-level evaluation indicator system to assess the effectiveness of owners’ endogenous dynamics in green retrofit projects. The system integrates market-driven effects and comprehensive benefits, covering owner behaviour, market relationships, operating environment, and social, environmental, and economic outcomes. Using the network analytic hierarchy process and fuzzy comprehensive evaluation, the study quantifies indicator weights and evaluates a real-world case in China. Evaluation results show that ‘effective owner behaviour’ (52.00) and ‘market operating environment’ (51.16) receive the lowest scores, indicating critical bottlenecks. Therefore, two practical improvement recommendations are proposed: ‘focusing on owner needs to enhance the effectiveness of owner behaviour’ and ‘improving market mechanisms to create a good market operating environment’. This study provides a scientific basis for strengthening the role of owners’ endogenous dynamics and promoting sustainable development in the green retrofit market for existing industrial buildings.