Sustainable insurance as a catalyst for green building investments in Africa

Africa's rapid urbanization and infrastructure expansion present both opportunities for economic development and challenges for environmental sustainability. This study examines the role of sustainable insurance as a catalyst for green building adoption and climate-resilient infrastructure in Africa. A PRISMA-guided systematic literature review of 42 studies published between 2016 and 2026 was conducted, integrating quantitative, qualitative, and conceptual evidence across five key themes: financial systems, insurance mechanisms, green building adoption, facilities management, and policy frameworks. The findings reveal that financial inclusion and innovation play a foundational role in enabling sustainable investment; however, insurance mechanisms remain underexplored despite their potential to influence investment behavior through risk pricing, premium differentiation, and capital allocation. Green building practices demonstrate clear environmental and operational benefits, yet adoption is constrained by financial, institutional, and knowledge barriers. Facilities management emerges as a critical component in operationalizing sustainability and generating performance data that informs insurance risk modeling. Based on these findings, the study proposes a triangular conceptual framework linking insurers, developers and investors, and facility managers through dynamic feedback mechanisms. The framework illustrates how sustainable insurance can align financial incentives with environmental performance, thereby accelerating the adoption of climate-resilient infrastructure. The study contributes to the literature by integrating fragmented research domains into a unified systems-based model and identifying key gaps, particularly the lack of empirical evidence on insurance-driven sustainability outcomes in Africa. The findings highlight the need for policy alignment, data system improvements, and innovation in insurance product design to support sustainable urban development. Future research should focus on empirically testing the proposed framework and examining insurance mechanisms across diverse African contexts.