Summary

As a part of a transition to more sustainable, circularity is gaining more and more attention from the Nordic construction sectors. It requires, however, a redefinition of current working practices, thereby becoming a multifaceted challenge for the stakeholders throughout the whole value chain.

Public authorities at the local, national, and Nordic levels are well-positioned to support and lead the transition to circular construction through their broad spectrum of areas of responsibility. To aid that, this research aimed to produce a set of recommendations on how local and national public authorities and the Nordic Council of Ministers can impact circularity in the construction field through advocacy, guidance, and financing.

To comprehensively present a Nordic market perspective on circularity, the differences and similarities between Nordic counties had to be addressed. Therefore, this report provides individual perspectives from five Nordic countries and, eventually, synthesizes these findings in the form of recommendations presented below. The recommendations considered three levels: local/national level, Nordic cooperation, and Nordic advocacy in the EU.

Recommendations for public officials at local and national levels

Role: Regulator
1.	Introduce a resource tax on raw materials to include their environmental price.
2.	Introduce CO₂emissions limits for new construction and harmonize the method of calculating emissions among Nordics. Such harmonization will allow designers and construction companies to extend their market to all Nordic countries.
3.	Implement requirements on circular design to the building code and ensure that they are being followed.
Role: Innovation enabler
4.	Facilitate the creation and management of a database with data from material passports and pre-demolition audits to improve the flow of information on available materials among stakeholders.
5.	Facilitate the preparation of guidelines on improving building design and navigating existing building codes when implementing circular practices.
Role: Building owner and tenant
6.	Introduce obligatory criteria on circularity in the procurement processes to lead and drive the transition to circular construction.
7.	Public authorities own and manage a considerable share of existing building stock. Therefore, focus on proper maintenance, efficient use, and adaptation to new needs of the existing building assets.
Role: Decision-maker
8.	Introduce circular construction elements, emphasizing practical aspects, into national curricula at different levels (e.g., vocational schools, universities).
9.	Introduce requirements on pre-demolition audits and material passports for all demolition projects and new buildings, respectively.
10.	Positive incentives are needed to enhance the expansion of circular practices. Lower VAT on reuse and recycling. Lower operational costs of circular buildings by lowering property and utility taxes.

Recommendations for Nordic cooperation

1.	Facilitate the creation of a joint Nordic method for assessing secondary materials’ quality, ensuring their healthiness and safety in future projects. As part of that, harmonize definitions for circular building practices to facilitate common understanding.
2.	Provide financial support for the pilot projects with distinguished circularity features in exchange for publicly available practical guidelines on circular construction.
3.	Advocate for stronger emission limits for new construction and refurbishment projects. Ensure that in the methods used for calculating emissions, the use of secondary materials is awarded.

Recommendations for EU policy work

1.	Without data on available materials, planning for reuse is impossible. Support digitalization efforts by mandating material passports in all construction projects. Material passports should be produced uniformly and in set data formats.
2.	Without standardized processes, recertifying products for use is impossible. Create a standardized re-certiﬁcation process for reused construction products to enable products to be recirculated into the marketplace.
3.	Without information on available materials, planning for reuse is impossible. Make pre-demolition audits mandatory in all member states.