15 October 2024
On September 26, Hållbar Interiör was launched as Sweden's first environmental certification specifically for interiors and premises. The Hållbar Interiör certification is based on a series of criteria that address everything from the design of an organization's spaces and furnishings to its organizational policies.
“The timing for this new environmental label is perfect. The major benefit of Hållbar Interiör is that businesses in Sweden will have more tools at their disposal to meet climate targets.”
– Fanny Fröjd, Head of Project Management Corporates at JLL
Hållbar Interiör is a certification that has been highly sought after across various industries. The lack of a standard and label has previously allowed businesses to self-define what qualifies as sustainable, risking “greenwashing.” With HI, professionals working with interiors, such as interior designers, architects, project managers, and large tenants, can now assess sustainability linked directly to spaces in a standardized way. By meeting the requirements for HI certification, companies can demonstrate their genuine commitment to reducing their environmental impact, says Kristin Östberg, architect and project leader at Indicum Interior Architects, and one of the initiators of Hållbar Interiör.
Circular thinking and the practical reuse of existing furniture and fixtures are at the core of Hållbar Interiör. The origins of the sustainability label trace back to a Vinnova project, which, in collaboration with various industry players and the RISE research institute, has been ongoing since 2019. After five years of research, pilot studies, and practical work, Hållbar Interiör is now being launched as the first sustainability label that evaluates entire interiors based on defined criteria. While many environmental certifications exist for buildings, focusing mainly on real estate, no clear definition has yet covered the elements of interior design that directly reduce environmental impact.
“To claim that a building is sustainable, what’s inside needs to be part of the evaluation too. It’s not credible for a building with high environmental performance—such as a Miljöbyggnad Guld rating—to have an interior that carries a significant environmental load. For instance, furniture could be produced in ways that are resource-intensive or in factories powered by coal. Since interiors also have a substantial environmental impact, they too must be measurable, reportable, and certifiable,” says Östberg.
The development of Hållbar Interiör involved collaboration between 30 actors from architecture, furniture, and facility management industries. The certification is based on a number of criteria, verified by RISE, and is aligned with an ISO 14024 Type 1 environmental label. The criteria include ensuring energy efficiency in spaces, sustainable facility management, reducing emissions, and promoting circularity.
One of the key criteria for certification is the reuse of interior furnishings. This is with good reason: in Sweden, furniture production accounts for approximately SEK 23 billion annually, with a quarter of that being office furniture. Office furniture is often discarded after only a few years due to wear or changes in business needs. The production of office furniture in Sweden is estimated to contribute more than 150,000 tons of CO2 equivalents annually. In a circular economy where furniture is refurbished and repaired, the climate impact of furniture could be reduced by 30%.
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