Nordic view on data needs and scenario settings for building LCA

18june

This webinar presents a common Nordic way to report the climate impact for a building and its full life cycle. This approach could serve as basis for a common Nordic construction legislation, where the calculation rules and scenario settings are the same.

Download presentation here

Read the report here

Program June 18th - 9.30-11.00 (CEST)

Central European Summer Time

Introduction of Nordic harmonisation of life cycle assessment	Maria Tiainen, Finnish Ministry of the Environment
Introduction to webinar and project overview	Janne Pesu, Finnish Environment Institute (Syke)
Recommended Nordic approach to GWP data and life cycle scenarios	Martin Erlandsson, IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute
Learnings from national GWP databases	Janne Pesu, Finnish Environment Institute (Syke)
Carbon stock and sink data of trees in urban areas in the context of building climate reporting	Heli Miettinen, Natural Resource Institute Finland (LUKE)
Q&A and open discussion

This webinar on June 18th at 9.30-11.00 (CET) presents a report - Nordic view on data needs and scenario settings for full life cycle building environmental assessment. This report discusses the need to harmonize the environmental assessment of buildings and provides recommendations for calculating the life-cycle Global Warming Potential (GWP) indicator for buildings. Recommendations for a common Nordic approach were defined by a group of experts from all Nordic countries and Estonia.

Limit values for all new buildings in Europe

The revised Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) will require calculation of life-cycle GWP for all new buildings. Nordic countries, as frontrunners, have a lot to offer in insights and experience for the forthcoming guidance like EPBD delegated act. The report includes a review of European development of standardization and regulation and describes in more detail the Nordic development and recommendations.

Recommendation for a common Nordic approach for each life-cycle module

Main part of the webinar discusses the recommended Nordic approach to GWP data and life cycle scenarios. Presentations describe calculation rules, scenario settings and generic data, emphasizing the importance of standardizing data and calculation methods to achieve comparable results. Furthermore, a cost effective, tiered approach is presented, where typically a European common approach can be used, and only where necessary, a Nordic or national specification should be established.

Nordic learnings and new research

Nordic countries already have experience of building LCA and required data. This experience has turned into learnings but also showed gaps in current knowledge. The webinar presentations address learnings from national GWP databases and new research on impact of vegetation on building plots. The report also includes discussions on assessing GWP for existing buildings, and defining sustainable forests for calculating the contribution to biogenic carbon storage in building products.

The work has been carried out by the IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute, Finnish Environment Institute (Syke), Natural Resource Institute Finland (LUKE), and with the help of a large group of other experts in all Nordic countries and Estonia.

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