Our story
In 2018, The Nordic Council of Ministers decided to initiate work towards Nordic harmonisation of building regulations concerning climate emissions. Then in 2019, the Nordic Prime Ministers took it a step further by agreeing on making the Nordics the world’s most sustainable and integrated region before 2030. This was the beginning of Nordic Vision 2030
Based on this vision, the Nordic Ministers for Construction and Housing agreed on a declaration highlighting the importance of collaborating towards a sustainable Nordic construction and housing sector with circular economy and a minimised climate and environmental impact the same year. Therefore, they initiated the action plan “Nordic sustainable and competitive construction”, which is practically implemented through our programme – Nordic Sustainable Construction.
Since 2021, Nordic Sustainable Construction has worked to implement the Nordic Vision 2030 by supporting the Nordic countries in establishing the Nordics as a leading region in sustainable and competitive construction with minimised environmental and climate impact. In our work, dialogue, knowledge sharing, co-creation and an aligned Nordic path for sustainable construction are key elements, and we utilise workshops, research, regulatory work, capacity building and interaction with Nordic lawmakers and actors along the entire value chain of construction and housing to implement Vision 2030.
We continue the work on Nordic harmonisation of building regulations and carry on the Nordic collaboration on sustainable construction. We believe in finding new and innovative Nordic solutions to sustainable construction and housing through generating and sharing knowledge across the Nordic regions and beyond.
Our organisation
The programme is organised into five work packages, who each works with a specific area of sustainable construction. The work packages are run by our programme partners:
- Ministry of Environment Finland
- Nordic Innovation
- Form/Design centre
- Ministry of Infrastructure Iceland
- Danish Authority of Social Services and Housing.
Reference group
To ensure that our programme’s progress, knowledge and findings are anchored in the Nordic countries, we have appointed a reference group, which follows and contributes to the programme. The reference group consists of government representatives from Denmark, Finland, Norway, Iceland, Sweden, Faeroe Islands, Greenland and Åland.
Steering group for harmonisation
Furthermore, to ensure the continued Nordic collaboration on harmonising building regulations and a joint Nordic construction sector, the Nordic Ministers’ for Construction and Housing has mandated a steering group for harmonisation of regulation, which also follows our programme. Read more about the steering group here.
We always value input, questions and potentials for collaboration. So, please do not hesitate to contact the Secretariat at nordicsustainableconstruction@sbst.dk.