Demand open sustainability data today for a circular construction sector tomorrow

BASTA, together with our sister organisations eBVD and CCBuild – the Centre for Circular Construction – alongside IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute and representatives of the construction industry, write this in Byggindustrin. Read the debate article at byggindustrin.se or below.

Legislation such as the Ecodesign Directive and the Construction Products Regulation will require data on construction products to be open, traceable, and quality-assured through the introduction of digital product passports. Under the EU Taxonomy, there are also requirements to verify products, which in practice calls for open data.

These regulations are positive steps that will hopefully accelerate the transition in the construction sector. However, since the circular materials of the future are already being produced today, we cannot wait for these measures to be fully implemented. The industry needs to act faster than that. To make information available for circular flows, the sector must demand that sustainability data is open and transferable between different digital systems.

Open data would simplify procurement processes and enable more efficient materials logistics by digitally linking sustainability data with delivery notes. It would also facilitate reuse through increased traceability, ensuring that digital information follows the construction product throughout its entire life cycle.

A study by the Building Materials Industries (Byggmaterialindustrierna) showed already ten years ago that a company with an average of 500 products spent SEK 2.3 million every year solely on keeping product data up to date across multiple systems. Since then, both regulatory demands and complexity have increased significantly.

In an article in Byggvärlden, building materials distributors also highlighted how the large number of labels and assessment systems creates a “mountain of administration” and, in practice, drives up costs for suppliers.

In its report Competition in the Building Materials Industry, the Swedish Competition Authority (Konkurrensverket) points out that locked-in data hampers both competition and innovation, and recommends making information held in environmental assessment systems accessible. In a survey commissioned by the Swedish Competition Authority in 2021, both construction companies and installation firms ranked environmental labels and certifications among the most cost-driving factors for a construction product.

To stay ahead and meet new legal requirements as well as rapidly growing demand for sustainability product data, industry stakeholders have joined forces and established an industry agreement. The work has involved nine major actors in the built environment sector: the Construction Companies (Byggföretagen), the Building Materials Industries (Byggmaterialindustrierna), Developers Sweden (Byggherrarna), the Building Materials Merchants (Byggmaterialhandlarna), the Swedish Property Federation (Fastighetsägarna), the Association of Swedish Installation Companies (Installatörsföretagen), the Swedish Association of Consulting Engineers and Architects (Innovationsföretagen), IQ Samhällsbyggnad, and Sweden’s Public Housing Companies (Sveriges Allmännytta). Together, the above-mentioned industry organisations—excluding Fastighetsägarna—have also developed a pre-study based on the agreement, aiming to jointly establish a digital structure for information sharing. The long-term goal of the agreement and the pre-study is to enable efficient data sharing between actors across the value chain.

Today, there are industry-owned systems where sustainability information on construction products is digitally open, traceable, and free of charge to share. Instead of fragmenting and locking in data, we can free up resources for innovation and genuine sustainable development. Key measures to achieve this include:

• Demand openness: The industry must jointly require that all assessment and registration systems open up their platforms so that data can be retrieved from any chosen system. These systems can continue to compete through other values such as user-friendliness and quality.

• Work with industry agreements on content, data principles, and data sharing, enabling the sector to set relevant and clear requirements for sustainability information.

We therefore urge both decision-makers and industry actors to demand open sustainability data. The more clients and purchasers have access to open, reliable sustainability data and quality-assured product assessments, the more informed material choices can be made—and the more products can circulate. This can lead to reduced use of products containing hazardous substances in homes, schools, and offices, and can accelerate the transition towards a non-toxic environment.

Pehr Hård, CEO, BASTA
Carina Loh Lindholm, CEO, CCBuild – Centre for Circular Construction
Jeanette Green, CEO, eBVD
Cecilia Groth, Expert in sustainable building materials, IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute
Sigrid Granström, Expert in energy and environmental policy, Byggföretagen
Rikard Silverfur, Head of Development and Sustainability, Fastighetsägarna
Tommy Lenberg, CEO, Byggherrarna
Veronika Koutny Sochman, CEO, Byggmaterialindustrierna