Sharing the Results from Three Years of Nordic Collaboration on Sustainable Construction

The Nordics as Frontrunners 

Keynote speaker Dan Koivulaakso, Head of Department for Growth and Climate in The Nordic Council of Ministers and The Nordic Council, underlined the importance of the Nordics collaborating.  

Dan’s presentation outlined the Nordic Council of Ministers' commitment to achieve the Nordic Vision 2030, which aspires to make the Nordic region the world's most sustainable and integrated region by 2030.

At the Nordic Council of Ministers we will develop and improve our work on climate adaptation and support solutions at the intersection of climate, biodiversity and pollution - the triple planetary crisis. The construction sector is a key area to address and all the work that has been accomplished in Nordic Sustainable Construction has made already an important contribution to this agenda (…). We believe there is a clear need to continue this work.

Dan also made it clear that with 2030 approaching, the Nordics must accelerate their efforts to achieve sustainability and integration goals. This includes systemic changes in consumption, production, and governance.

What Will a New EU Commission Look Into?

The Nordic Sustainable Construction programme has continuously contributed to the EU Commission’s work on enabling transition pathways for construction in Europe the last three years. A new EU Commission has started to work towards 2029 and for the first time ever, a Commissioner in charge of Housing and Energy has been appointed, Dan Jørgensen. To give an initial perspective on what some of these new focus areas might be, which would be of relevance for construction and housing, Zsolt Toth, Team Lead at Building Performance Institute of Europe, had been invited to give a presentation highlighting some of the upcoming focus areas.

He pointed to the following:

• European Affordable Housing Plan, including a European Strategy for Housing Construction.
• Work with European Investment Bank to establish a pan-European investment platform for affordable and sustainable housing
• Address issues with short-term accommodation rentals and make proposals to tackle inefficient use of the current housing stock

Zsolt pointed towards “Sufficiency” as one of many tools needed to address some of the multiple crises such as decarbonisation, resource security, energy poverty, and housing shortages. Zsolt gave a deep dive into sufficiency in the building sector and the need to define what we mean by it and the need for good cases to demonstrate the potential impacts and the broader application across Europe. Zsolt highlighted initiatives from Germany and France for inspiration. A key point was – as in so many other cases – the need for data on how we are utilizing the m2 we have already built.

While there is a perceived conflict between environmental goals and addressing the housing crisis, the emphasis should be on the need to balance these concerns. The risk of sacrificing environmental objectives in the name of rapid housing construction must be avoided.

Lastly, Zsolt spoke on the importance of the work done in the Nordics and how the knowledge created on lowering emissions from construction makes a great foundation for the other European countries to use and build on.

Results from the Five Work Packages:

A series of insightful presentations followed, focusing on the specific results and future perspectives from the five key work packages in the Nordic Sustainable Construction programme. Some of the highlights were:

• We have achieved a valuable overview of LCA methods across Nordic countries and Estonia, understanding the differences, pros and cons and given recommendations for harmonization
• Collaboration with Nordic companies and cities is one of the keys in achieving a circular transition
• Dialogue with stakeholders in the sector and a transparent and holistic assessment is important to create a level playing field under regulation
• Increasing the time for planning and focus on waste managing is a key factor to achieve emission-free construction sites
• Having the muscle to translate new solutions into education is important, if we want to build competences for reuse in construction.

After presenting the work packages got the chance to elaborate on their work in a panel debate and Q&A session. This also provided attendees with the opportunity to engage with experts and discuss the challenges and opportunities in sustainable construction.

The Wicked Problem of Sustainable Construction

Sigge Winther Nielsen, Director of the Institute for Wicked Problems (INVI), gave a thought-provoking talk on "The Wicked Problem of Nordic Collaboration on Sustainable Construction”.

In his presentation, Sigge pointed to the high complexity of the problem of transforming the construction sector in a green direction and encouraged the audience and policy makers to dive into and understand the problem in order to make good solutions. Sigge also encouraged to ask the practitioners to help define problems and solutions and highlighted the importance of the democratic conversation.

Will there be a Nordic Sustainable Construction 2025-2027?

The first phase of the Nordic Sustainable Construction has provided essential contributions to the green transition of the construction sector. The Nordic Ministers of Housing and Construction expressed already in September 2023 a strong wish to build on the established foundation for collaboration and the indepth knowledge generated. The Ministers wish for a Nordic Sustainable Construction programme focusing on Climate, Digitalisation, EU and Circularity. This wish was reconfirmed in Göteborg August 2024.

During 2024 the programme have entered into dialogues and gathered input from Nordic construction ministries and authorities, a Nordic sector workshop, case studies, experts, Nordic ministries or authorities in charge of either Growth and Business or Climate and Environment. All these input have been gathered into a programme proposal applying to get sufficient funds from the Nordic Council of Ministers in order to make another fruitful programme contributing to the green, circular and digital transition of the construction sector, which is essential to get closer to the Nordic Vision 2030 of being the most sustainable and integrated region in the world.