District Heating benefits and economic assessment methods: a systematic review and the role of emerging technologies

District heating (DH) is a key solution for decarbonising heat supplies, improving energy efficiency, and generating multiple economic, social, and environmental benefits. Identifying, quantifying, and monetising these benefits is crucial to assessing the impact of DH systems, comparing them with alternative heating solutions, and informing investment decisions and policy design. This paper conducts a systematic literature review to identify and classify DH benefits and to analyse the methods used to assess their economic impacts. The identified benefits are classified into four categories: energy system, end users, environment, and society, considering 123 research papers. Across all studies, 26 monetised DH benefits, but only 10 studies explicitly described the methods applied. This work demonstrates the limited but growing use of monetisation approaches for analysing DH benefits. The crucial monetisation approaches are avoided cost, net present value, hedonic pricing, levelised cost of heat, and willingness to pay. However, the absence of a harmonised framework for evaluating and monetising DH benefits limits the comparability and consistency of existing studies. Also, the study shows how emerging technologies like AI, digital twins, IoT, and cyber–physical systems are enhancing DH system performance and associated benefits. The study highlights the need for an integrated and standardised evaluation framework to assist policymakers and investors in financing efficient and sustainable DH projects.