Municipalities can reduce emissions from new buildings without extra costs, experts said at a co-creation meeting organised by KRED.
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Many municipalities seem to believe that environmental requirements for public buildings lead to higher costs. This was one of the topics discussed at the KRED seminar, How Can Municipalities Use Their Purchasing Power to Make Buildings More Sustainable?, held at Vestby Town Hall on 15 October.
Researchers, a building certification organisation and municipal representatives shared the same message: Sustainability does not have to make construction more expensive, as long as requirements are set early and properly followed up.
The seminar brought together mayors, municipal employees, procurement officers and other experts. The goal was to start a process towards a shared understanding across the Follo region of good practices for sustainable procurement in buildings, including new construction, renovation, building conversion and operation.
Large budgets, financial pressure
Jan Thomas Odegard, KRED coordinator at NMBU, opened the seminar with some figures. Public procurement in Norway was worth around NOK 864 billion in 2025. Municipalities account for almost 40% of this spending, while buildings make up around 25% of public procurement.
Odegard pointed out that municipalities are under financial pressure. Many are struggling with tight budgets, and sustainability is often seen as expensive. At the same time, national politicians and institutions consider public procurement one of the most important tools municipalities have to achieve national climate and nature goals. Since 2024, sustainability criteria have been required to carry a 30% weighting in public procurement, including construction projects.
The costs are not where people think
Both Grønn Byggallianse (the Green Building Alliance) and Nordre Follo Municipality stressed that making buildings more sustainable does not necessarily increase costs.
Experience shows that greenhouse gas emissions can be reduced by 20–25% by choosing building materials with lower emissions, without additional costs. There are also opportunities to receive financial support for sustainability measures from ENOVA or obtain lower-interest loans from Kommunalbanken.
Anders Berggren from Nordre Follo Municipality highlighted Magasinparken Lower Secondary School, where the municipality required a 50% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and a BREEAM-NOR Excellent certification.
Timing is crucial when setting these requirements. According to Berggren, costs can be reduced when environmental planning starts early. He encouraged municipalities to consider the total costs over a building's lifetime, rather than focusing only on the initial investment.
Participants in the co-creation session reached similar conclusions. Tight budgets could even encourage new thinking and better solutions. As one participant put it: “Having little money can force us to think differently and find good solutions.”
Another pointed out that time pressure can be expensive: “Building quickly can cost more if decisions are made too hastily.”
Lack of time and expertise creates barriers
There are still real challenges. Participants noted that many procurement officers lack the expertise needed to formulate clear and specific environmental requirements. Politicians also need better knowledge to set ambitions and assess proposals.
Time was the most frequently mentioned barrier. Municipalities said they often lack the time to plan construction projects properly, forcing them to react to problems instead of planning ahead.
The construction industry is also often cautious about trying new solutions. Low profit margins, tight deadlines and frequently changing building regulations can make companies less willing to take risks.
Participants saw greater cooperation as part of the solution. This includes collaboration across different professional fields within municipalities, cooperation between municipalities and regional networks. Access to experts and practical guidance can also make the work easier.
Experiences from Magasinparken and Sofiemyr were highlighted as examples of how innovation can spread. One successful project can inspire and engage an entire organisation.
More than climate benefits
The biggest climate impact comes from deciding whether to transform an existing building or construct a new one, and from choosing the right materials. Procurement is a key tool for making these choices.
However, sustainable buildings offer benefits beyond lower emissions. Participants highlighted reduced material use and energy consumption, less pressure on the electricity grid and better climate adaptation, which can help reduce the costs of extreme weather.
More circular solutions can also create additional work for local tradespeople, while more flexible tenders can encourage innovation.
BREEAM-NOR is one tool for achieving these goals. Bjørn-Yngve Kinzler Eriksen from Grønn Byggallianse presented it as a system for assessing and verifying sustainability. It covers nine environmental categories and offers several certification levels.
Up to a certain certification level, higher sustainability ambitions do not necessarily lead to significant additional costs. Grønn Byggallianse announced that a new version of BREEAM-NOR will be launched in the first quarter of 2027, with fewer process requirements and a simpler digital portal.
What's next?
The seminar showed that sustainable buildings are both achievable and financially worthwhile. The main challenges are not necessarily the money, but the time and expertise needed to plan properly from the beginning.
Participants agreed that municipalities need to work together more closely and that investing in sustainable construction practices can bring significant benefits.
There is still much work to do to establish good practices for sustainable procurement in the Follo region and across Norway. But the message from Vestby was clear: Environmental requirements in public procurement do not necessarily mean higher costs. The key is to set sustainability goals early enough.