It should be easy to do the right thing. That’s why Fabege offers green leases, which allows tenants and landlords to indicate how they intend to reduce the office’s environmental impact.

Green leases specify environmental goals in terms of energy, indoor climate, choice of materials, travel habits and recycling at the office. The agreement is voluntary and comes as an appendix to the main lease. Of Fabege’s newly signed leases in 2016, 76 per cent were green.

“It’s a great way of keeping track of everything to do with sustainability at the office,” says Susanna Elvsén, Market Area Manager for Fabege at Solna Business Park. “It’s nothing complicated; it’s about cooperation around an attractive office that is also energy efficient, has a healthy indoor climate and contains carefully chosen materials.”

Highlighting the environment

Green leases are primarily a way of ensuring that environmental issues are highlighted at every meeting between Fabege and the tenant. The content is adapted to the company’s needs and may, for example, relate to sorting waste for recycling, cleaning without the use of hazardous chemicals, or stocking organic coffee. Both parties also commit to buying green electricity.

“The aim is for us both to do our bit to help protect the environment,” explains Susanna. “We can work together to make goods deliveries more efficient, ensure commuting and business trips are done in a way that reduces the company’s carbon dioxide emissions and encourage employees to cycle instead of taking the car to work by offering more parking and storage areas for bikes.”

Björn Borg has green lease

Björn Borg’s head office in Vasastaden is home to around 70 employees. The sports clothing brand has a sustainability profile and aims to cut its carbon dioxide emissions by 40 per cent by 2019. The office’s operations play a major role here.

“Our employees can borrow bicycles and we try to travel as environmentally as we can. We avoid taxis, but if we have to we opt for electric cars,” says Shannon Clinton, Office Manager.

Björn Borg sorts a considerable amount of waste and also recycles food waste, makes an effort to reduce paper consumption and only uses eco-friendly products. 

“We have a green lease with Fabege, which among other things means our electricity is generated by hydropower,” says Shannon. 

Susanna’s top tips for saving electricity:

• Invest in motion-activated lighting so you don’t have to remember to switch off the light.
• Choose an alarm that also turns off all the lights when you set it. Then you avoid leaving on lights that aren’t connected to the motion-activated system. And it’s also easy to see that the alarm is on.
• Keep stuff away from radiators and fans. That way they’ll consume less electricity. 
• Choose eco-friendly, energy efficient coffee machines.