An obligation and opportunity to move the needle
Real estate’s environmental footprint is too large to ignore. It must become better, both in the Nordics and globally. Whilst the CO2 footprint of NREP’s real estate projects (or even the Nordic real estate as a whole) will not change the global war on climate change, the Nordics are fertile soil for pioneering better solutions that can subsequently be adopted by larger markets that do move the needle. NREP sees this as one of its core opportunities to make a difference and is determined to lead the way to true net-zero in a way that moves the needle.
In the Nordics, building standards are very high by international comparison, especially when it comes to operational energy efficiency. However, we are far from true net-zero. Particularly there are large opportunities to reduce embodied carbon of new buildings and unlock real estate’s potential for on-site renewable energy production through solar, geothermal and heat-pumps.
of raw materials consumption and CO2 emissions in the Nordics is caused by real estate
Too large to ignore
In the public debate on climate change, resource depletion and waste pollution the real estate sector is seldom in focus compared to the airline industry, car industry, oil industry or even cattle farming. Yet the construction, use and demolition of real estate is the single largest part of the problem – in the Nordics and globally it accounts for almost 40% of energy consumption, 40% of GHG emissions, 40% of raw materials consumption and a third of waste volumes. Conversely, due to both its size and the lack of innovation, it has the potential and obligation to account for the biggest part of the solution.



