Questions and answers about climate declarations

The information on this page is based on the parliaments act and the governments ordinance of climate declarations for buildings and the Swedish National Board of Housing, Building and Planning’s provision of climate declarations for buildings.

General questions

When did the regulations of climate declaration of buildings come into force?

The regulations on climate declarations for buildings under construction came into force as of 1 January 2022.

What regulations on climate declarations is there?

There is a law, ordinance and provision on climate declaration for buildings.

• Act (2021: 787) on climate declaration for buildings.
• Ordinance (2021: 789) on climate declaration for buildings.
• Provision (BFS 2021:7) on climate declarations for buildings. 

What does a climate declaration entail?

A climate declaration describes the building’s climate impact, as calculated based on the greenhouse gas emissions from the construction stage. The construction stage comprises the extraction of raw materials, manufacture of construction products, work at the construction site and transports.

What is the purpose of doing a climate declaration?

The purpose is to reduce climate impact from new buildings and increase knowledge of the climate impact of the construction of buildings. Another purpose is to illustrate the benefits of reducing the climate impact of construction of buildings to various actors in the construction sector.

How much does it cost to do a climate declaration?

Boverket has made general calculations of costs according to the proposal which covers climate declarations for a limited part of the building and its life cycle.

The buildings that have been estimated are shown below with estimated costs for implementing a climate declaration:

The estimated cost refers to doing a climate declaration for one building. However, we can note that the single-family houses built in series are copies of each other, which means that the cost in that case can be spread out over several buildings. Some companies also have employees with expertise in doing a climate declaration, which means that the costs for doing the bill of resources and estimates required are lower.

Comments on Boverket’s cost estimates

The estimates are calculated using data from actual buildings. The cost estimates are based on time logs for different work elements to obtain an acceptable statistical basis, at least 10-20 estimates of climate declarations would be needed for each building type. Over time, we will obtain a larger statistical basis, but for Boverket, the time and cost to have these climate declarations done have been limited.

The reason that Boverket’s estimate differ in cost between the series-manufactured single-family houses and the multi dwelling blocks is that for the single-family houses, the amounts were not calculated in m³, kg or m². This means that all products in the building needed to be quantified before the products in the single-family houses could form input in the LCA programme. The quantities for the multi dwelling blocks were, however, calculated in the right units and could immediately form input in the LCA programme. The reason for the difference in cost is, in other words, not linked to the building type or size of the building, but to the format of the input data.

It is probable that in most cases it will take more time to do the calculations for a multi dwelling blocks than for a single-family house, but it all depends on how detailed input data is obtained from the project. In other words, the format of input data has a very large effect on time and cost for doing a climate declaration.

What benefit does the developer have from producing a climate declaration?

A climate declaration gives the developer more in-depth knowledge of various resource flows in the building, their climate impacts and a documented climate performance. An estimated climate calculation in early construction stages provides a quantitative basis for making well-grounded decisions on how the building’s climate impact can be reduced. Increased knowledge provides greater opportunities to reduce the amounts of materials and waste. The costs can thereby also decrease in both the short and long term.

Who should produce the declaration?

Who is responsible to do a climate declaration?

It is the developer that has the responsibility that the declaration is done and that it is submitted to Boverket.

What buildings are covered

What buildings are covered by the climate declaration requirement?

The climate declaration requirement will apply to new buildings that require building permits. This will apply to those who apply for a building permit after 1 January 2022.

But there are exceptions:

• buildings with temporary building permit, intended to be used no more than two years
• buildings for industrial facilities and workshops
  agricultural buildings for farming, forestry or other similar enterprises
• buildings that do not have a gross floor area larger than 100.0 square metres
• buildings intended for total defence purposes and buildings of importance to Swedish security
• a developer who is a private individual and is not constructing a building in business does not need to do a climate declaration
• buildings where the developer is Affärsverket svenska kraftnät, Fortifikationsverket, Statens fastighetsverk, Specialfastigheter Sverige AB or Trafikverket.

If an extension is built, does a new climate declaration need to be submitted?

No, in such a case, no new climate declaration needs to be done. The climate declaration requirement only applies when a new building is built.

When and to whom must the climate declaration be submitted?

When must a climate declaration be done?

In order to get a final clearance according to the Planning and Building Act, the developer must be able to show that a climate declaration has been submitted. No exact point in time is set in the regulations for when the climate declaration must be done and submitted, but without a submitted climate declaration, the municipality cannot provide a final clearance, only an interim final clearance can be given.

To whom must the climate declaration be sent?

The climate declaration is to be registered at Boverket, which will also have a register for received climate declarations. The declaration can be registered digitally directly in Boverket's register.

When should one begin gathering information for the climate declaration?

When you begin to calculate the climate impact as early as at the planning phase for the project there is a better chance to take measures for climate improvements, among other things by comparing different design solutions and material choices.

Saving and gathering information on products, materials and other information throughout the project planning phase will also make it easier and simplify work with the final climate declaration since it is time consuming to gather information afterwards.

What is to be calculated in a climate declaration?

What parts of the building’s life cycle are included in the climate declaration?

A building’s life cycle is usually divided into three main stages – the construction stage, the use stage and the end-of-life stage. These stages are in turn divided into so-called information modules that describe the processes during the life cycle. This means that climate calculations can be presented in a uniform manner, which facilitates the interpretation of results. 

The climate declaration covers the entire construction stage. This means that the following five modules in the construction stage (A1-A5) according to the European standard SS-EN15978:2011 are to be covered:

The entire life cycle is not included in the climate declaration. For example, the use stage with climate impact from operational energy and the end-of-life stage with de-construction and demolition do not need to be included. It is of course voluntary to estimate the building’s whole life cycle, but only data for modules A1-A5 must be presented in the climate declaration that is registered at Boverket.

For A4 only transport of construction products to the construction site is included in the climate declaration. For A5 only construction waste and energy demanding processes is included in the climate declaration.

What building elements in the building are included in the climate declaration?

The climate declaration is limited to certain building elements. The building’s envelope, load-bearing structures and interior walls must be included. This means for example that the building’s technical equipment are excluded.

In this context, the building’s envelope is a building element consisting of one or more layers that insulate the inside of the building from its surroundings with regard to temperature, noise and moisture, among others. Load-bearing structure elements are parts of the building’s construction that bear loads of various kinds in addition to their own weight. Interior surface layers on the building's envelope, interior surface layers on load-bearing structures and surface layers on interior wall is not included in the climate declaration.

Doing a climate declaration including calculation and climate data

How is a climate declaration done?

To make a climate declaration, a compilation of the materials and the energy and fuel consumption for the erection of the building in the construction stage is needed. This is usually called a bill of resources and is suitably developed in connection with the preparation of a financial calculation.  In an early stage, approximate key indicators and experience-based values are sometimes used to estimate the amount of materials, but there is often a construction cost calculation that provides a useful compilation of the resources intended to be used.

If the construction cost calculation program that is used does not automatically convert amounts into climate impact for various building elements, this needs to be done in another tool that converts the amount of building products to so-called generic resources. These are then in turn linked to various climate data. To do this, a conversion is required of quantities to comparable units, for example from square metres to kilograms. The climate impact is presented in the unit kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalents per square metre (gross floor area).

What climate data will be used?

In an early stage, you do not know exactly which products will actually be used. The best choice in the climate calculation is to use so-called generic data, meaning average data. The generic data that is used must be representative for building products used in the Swedish market. Boverket provides a generic climate database that is to be used if generic data is used for the climate declaration. 

In a later stage, when you know what products you will use, generic data can be replaced with product-specific climate data, so-called environmental product declarations (EPD) for the product. If no product-specific climate data is available, generic data can be used the entire way.

Where can generic climate data be obtained?

Generic climate data is available in a database that have been developed by Boverket and is available on this website. The generic climate data for construction products is set conservatively, meaning relatively high averages to stimulate the use of product-specific climate data (EPD) in the final climate declaration.

If generic climate data is used, must the database be used?

Yes. If one does not use product-specific climate data, but rather uses generic climate data, one must use data from Boverket's database and not from other sources.

Is it possible to get help to do a climate declaration?  

Yes, there are people who have knowledge of estimating climatic impact, such as environmental consultants (LCA experts). There are also calculation tools that facilitate the climate calculations that form the basis for the climate declaration.

What calculation tools may be used?

There are different calculation tools in the market today to make it easier to calculate climate impact. Boverket will not develop any calculation tools, it will be free to choose a tool that suits the information to be compiled.

Limit values

Will there be any limit values in the regulations?

There are no limit values for the climate impact for buildings in the regulations now.  

Limit values may be introduced. Boverket was tasked by the Government to propose a roadmap for when limit values could be introduced. A report with a roadmap was submitted to the Government in June 2020. You can find an English translation in the report "Regulation on climate declarations for buildings". The report suggests that limit values are introduced in 2027.

Regulations on climate declarations for buildings

In February 2022, the government commissioned the Swedish National Board of Housing, Building and Planning (Boverket) to submit proposals on how to accelerate the introduction of limit values for climate impact from buildings and expand the application of climate declarations. On 10 May 2023, Boverket submitted a final report to the government. Read more about the assignment and find the report “Limit values for climate impact from buildings and an expanded climate declaration” via the link below. The Government has sent the report for consultation until 31 May 2024.

The assignment to investigate how the introduction of a limit value can be done earlier than 2027

Missing climate declaration

What happens if one does not produce a climate declaration for the building?

Without the climate declaration, the municipality will not be able to issue any final clearance according to the Planning and Building Act for the building in question. In such a case, the municipality can only issue an interim final clearance.

Upon registration of the climate declaration, one receives a receipt from Boverket. The developer needs to present the receipt to the municipality in order to obtain a final clearance.

After a submitted climate declaration

What does Boverket do with the climate declaration after it has been registered with Boverket?

Boverket gathers all climate declarations in a climate declaration register.

Upon registration, no notice is issued by Boverket as to whether the declaration is “approved” or “rejected”. Boverket will have supervisory responsibility with respect to the content of the declaration. There are requirements that the developer must save the information that formed the basis for the climate declaration.

For how long does the developer need to save information on the climate declaration?

Information that formed the basis of the climate calculation in the declaration must be saved by the developer for five years. Examples of information that needs to be saved are the bill of resources and product-specific climate data (EPD) if such data was used.

What does Boverket do in its role as the supervisory authority of the climate declarations?

Boverket can request information that formed the basis of the climate declaration from the developer. If Boverket has calculated a climate impact value that significantly deviates from the declared value, the developer will have the opportunity to submit an explanation. If the developer has not submitted a reasonable explanation for the deviation, Boverket may register the value calculated by Boverket. If there are special reasons, then Boverket may charge a sanction fee.