Norway: Greenhouse Gas Accounting (TEK17)

From 1 July 2022, TEK17 requires an account for greenhouse gas emissions from materials for apartment blocks and commercial buildings. The greenhouse gas account is based on the NS3720:2018 however does not include full life-cycle accounting.

The requirement of TEK17 § 17-1 means that the players in the construction industry must increase their expertise on greenhouse gas emissions from materials. They must use tools to calculate greenhouse gas emissions and develop routines to follow up on the requirement. In this way, the industry will be prepared for possible stricter greenhouse gas requirements in the future.

1. Life-Cycle & Results Scope

The calculation includes the life-cycle modules of A1-A3, A4, A5, B2, and B4. Additionally, the waste generated on the construction site has to be included in the assessment. 

• A1-A3: Production stage.
• A4: Transport to the construction site.
• A5: Construction site activity, limited to emissions related to the production and transport of materials that become waste. Module A5 includes emissions related to cutting and wastage of materials, including production, transport to the construction site and waste management. Module A5 also includes handling of packaging waste, emissions from mobile and stationary work machines, and energy use for heating, ventilation, drying, lighting etc.

• B2: Future maintenance in the use phase. An example is painting the facade every ten years. For maintenance-free solutions, the emissions in module B2 will be equal to zero

• B4: Replacement of products and components with a shorter lifespan than the calculation period of 50 years. Examples of this are the installation of new windows after 30 years or new roofing.

The tool reports on Global Warming Potential only. 

2. Data Scope

This tool utilizes CML and PEF (EN15804+A2) data. 

3. Assessment Scope

Building elements included in the scope: 

• 215 Pile Foundation (Pelefundamentering)
• 216 Direct Foundation (Direkte Fundamentering)
• 22 Carrying Systems (Baeresysteme)
• 23 External Walls (Ytervegger)
• 24 Interior Walls (Innervegger)
• 25 Covers (Dekker)
• 26 Additional ceiling (Yttertak)

Building parts to be included:

Included	Omitted
21, 215, 215
22, 221, 222, 223, 224, 225, 226	227, 228 (a), 229 (a)
23, 231, 232, 233, 234, 235, 236 (b)(c)(d)	237, 238 (a), 239 (a)
24, 241, 242, 243, 244, 245, 246 (b)(c)	247, 248 (a), 249 (a)
25, 251, 252 (c), 253, 254, 255, 256 (c), 257
26, 261, 262, 263, 264, 265, 266 (c)(d), 277	268 (a), 269 (a)

a) These building parts include i.a. fasteners, point, and strip sealing, sealant, tape, cuffs, and push strips.

b) Internal cladding (plaster, chipboard, MDF, etc.) is included.

c) Internal surface treatment (sparkling, paint, wallpaper, glue, etc.) and moldings are not included

d) Vapor barrier and moisture barrier are not included

1 - Create a project and select the right calculation tool

Create a building project and select the Greenhouse gas accounting, TEK17 tool as the chosen calculation tool.

2 - Create your first design and set up the LCA parameters if needed

NOTE: Not all LCA parameters affect the TEK 17 tool as it does not report on replacements or end-of-life emissions. 

3 - Check the mandatory scope

Check the mandatory scope of required elements from TEK 17 guidance.

4 - Fill in the building area

Fill in the Building area question form by entering the Bruttoareal (BTA) Norway of the building.

5 - Input data for construction site operations

Add the construction site wastage emissions and if required later additional transport emissions can be added additionally. 

6 - Input required material data

Fill in your project information in One Click LCA by entering the design either manually or by importing your data (see different import options here; guidance for data import can be found here). If you need help finding the right datasets for your building materials, check our guidance pages here and here.

Use EPD data where available however the TEK17 tool has some differences from other carbon tools.

• The TEK17 tool allows the use of EN15804:A1 and EN15804:A2 data.
• The TEK17 tool mandates a markup of 25% emissions to generic data. 
• The Swedish Boverket and German Okobaudat databases with generic data can be used.

Choose the correct building part classification for each material from the 'Bygningdel' dropdown menu. This can be done also within the import process. This parameter is used for showing the results per building part in the result graphics.

• Set the transportation distance and method from the manufacturing site to the construction site of each material. 

For emissions related to the transport of building materials, a transport distance in Norway of 300 km to the construction site can be assumed, with the exception of concrete where 50 km can be assumed. For imported building materials, we must also include transport to Norway.

7 - Review the results and download the results report