Supplementary agreement on climate requirements for new buildings

The Danish government has reached a new strategy for building regulations and how such should be adapted to the new climate requirements. Apart from tightening the threshold limit value, more detailed as well as differentiated regulation has been agreed upon to ensure the Danish green transition in relation to new buildings.

On 30 May 2024, the government and a broad political majority signed a supplementary agreement to the national strategy for sustainable construction as of 5 March 2021. The supplementary agreements tighten the climate requirements for new construction as more types of buildings and all residential construction will be subject to the new limit values for how much CO2e a new building can emit. The new climate requirements depend on the type of building, and the construction process has been included in the climate accounts. The parties to the agreement have agreed that the CO2e requirements from 2025 will come into force through the amendment of the building regulations on 1 July 2025. There will then be a gradual phasing-in of stricter limit values for the climate impact of construction towards 2029. The parties will meet again in mid-2026 and mid-2028 to discuss further tightening of the climate requirements.

The parties have agreed on the following additional measures:

Tightening of the threshold

The CO₂e limit threshold is tightened further, setting the total CO₂e limit value to 7.1 kg CO₂e/m²/year.

Differentiation of the threshold based on building types:

The threshold should be differentiated based on building types. To ensure that building types with generally lower climate impacts are motivated to reduce emissions as much as the buildings that have a higher climate impact, the requirements should be differentiated to ensure equal incentive for such to ensure sustainability. Buildings that are easier to construct sustainably will thus face higher requirements. At the same time, the parties have agreed to adjust the voluntary CO₂ class (low-emission class) so that it follows the same incremental tightening.

Expanding the scope of new buildings covered by the threshold

The 2024 limit value will also include holiday homes and unheated buildings larger than 50 m2, such as car parks and warehouses. As far as small houses are concerned, they are included in the limit value for single-family houses.

For apartment blocks, office buildings, institutions and other buildings, extensions will also be covered by the threshold, whereas for single-family houses, terraced houses, small houses and holiday homes, only extensions over 250 m² are covered by the threshold.

Special critical buildings, unheated buildings under 50 m² and breeding and farm buildings are exempt

Certain types of critical buildings will be exempted from the CO₂e threshold limit value. However, the climate impact of the buildings must still be documented. Included in the term special critical building types are, among others, waterworks, prisons, hospitals and defence operational buildings.

Unheated buildings under 50 m², including secondary buildings such as outbuildings and henhouses, are still exempt from the CO₂e limit value and documentation requirements. Agricultural breeding and operational buildings are also still exempt from the CO₂e requirement.

Emissions from the construction process are included in the threshold limit value

The construction process must be included in the climate accounting entailing a limit value for the construction process corresponding to 1.5 kg CO₂e/m²/year. In the future, the emissions from the construction process must be documented and will have its own separate limit value. The aim is to reduce energy and fuel consumption from the transport of building materials to the construction site and within the construction site and to reduce the amount of material waste.

Fundamental revision of the building regulations

The parties have agreed that there must be a thorough revision of the building regulations. The reason for this is that the current health and safety requirements prevent the new CO2e requirements from being met in practice. The aim is also to ensure that the building regulations can be complied with in practice, considering the cost and feasibility of construction.

It is also intended that the revision of the building regulations will simplify the building regulations by simplifying the rules so that the costs of tightening the requirements in 2025 are reduced.

The parties have also agreed that the revision of the building regulations will include a relaxation of the requirements for small houses to make it easier to build smaller homes.

Easing of energy requirements for the conversion of existing buildings

The requirements for the transformation of existing buildings will be relaxed with the aim of promoting renovation rather than demolition. The parties have agreed that energy requirements for transformations of existing buildings will be reduced in line with the requirements for major renovations.

As part of the revision of the building regulations, rules will be developed to make it easier to utilize existing buildings when converting, renovating, and changing the use of existing buildings. In addition, it will be investigated whether a system can be established whereby the municipality can reject a license to demolish a building when objective considerations make it appropriate to preserve the building. It will also be investigated whether a system can be established whereby a building owner can be charged a fee for the demolition of these buildings.

Finally, the parties have agreed to create the best possible conditions for more dynamic and vibrant city centers taking climate impacts into consideration. Therefore, it will be investigated how it can be made easier to use existing buildings for residential use within a radius of 800 meters of city centers.