Thommessen's comments
The Environmental Agreement remains an annex to the latest standard lease for commercial properties (Nw. Meglerstandarden), published 24 June 2025 (8th edition 06/25). The standard presumes that parties have agreed on—and annexed—the environmental measures at signing. If they have not, we recommend rewording the provision to make the Environmental Agreement a starting point for later negotiations and agreements on implementing those measures.
The Environmental Agreement may serve to make the parties more conscious of environmental issues, both when concluding the lease and during the lease term. However, this standard form of agreement amounts to no more than a non-binding letter of intent, if the parties have not already at signing agreed on which environmental measures to implement, as well as how to apportion any costs and savings. The Environmental Agreement stipulates that the lessor pays for the environmental measures, and that the lessee pays an annual addition to the rent based on the lessors investment costs.
In our experience, non-implementation of environmental measures is often to do with a lack of financial incentives for the parties. For the lessee, there may be little financial gain if the lessee is required to foot the bill for all or part of any cost savings, while the lessor is (thus far) not faced with sufficient preferential regulatory treatment of sustainable buildings. To address this issue, a new optional clause has been added to the updated standard lease agreement, allowing landlords to undertake environmental upgrades during the lease term and apportion the costs of energy‑efficiency measures among tenants.
Due to the strong focus on sustainable buildings, we believe that implementation of environmental measures will have an impact on several aspects, such as the property's value, insurance terms, loan conditions, and the attractiveness of the property in the rental market. Hence, in many situations it might be appropriate to modify the lease agreement, to include the abovementioned optional clause and/or to revise the Environmental Agreement to make it more committing.
About
The Environmental Agreement has been drafted by the Norwegian Property Federation in collaboration with a number of other trade associations, the Norwegian Green Building Council and the Bellona Foundation. The Environmental Agreement is intended as a tool for greening of properties. The Agreement calls upon the lessor and the lessee to cooperate on enhancing and evolving the environmental standard of the leased premises during the lease term through improved energy efficiency, better resource utilisation and reduced emissions/waste.
The Environmental Agreement is primarily focused on energy saving measures, for which it is fairly straightforward to document a financial gain after measures have been implemented. However, the Agreement also allows for the inclusion of other environmental measures during the lease term, for example in relation to waste handling and choice of materials. The Agreement requires the parties to hold an environmental meeting at least once a year to consider prospects for implementing energy saving measures and environmental measures. There are two standard appendices to the Agreement; an example action plan and an example calculation of actual energy savings.
Who does it impact?
Commercial property lessors and lessees.
Status: Launched
The current version of the Environmental Agreement was launched in May 2022.
Thommessen's comments
The Environmental Agreement remains an annex to the latest standard lease for commercial properties (Nw. Meglerstandarden), published 24 June 2025 (8th edition 06/25). The standard presumes that parties have agreed on—and annexed—the environmental measures at signing. If they have not, we recommend rewording the provision to make the Environmental Agreement a starting point for later negotiations and agreements on implementing those measures.
The Environmental Agreement may serve to make the parties more conscious of environmental issues, both when concluding the lease and during the lease term. However, this standard form of agreement amounts to no more than a non-binding letter of intent, if the parties have not already at signing agreed on which environmental measures to implement, as well as how to apportion any costs and savings. The Environmental Agreement stipulates that the lessor pays for the environmental measures, and that the lessee pays an annual addition to the rent based on the lessors investment costs.
In our experience, non-implementation of environmental measures is often to do with a lack of financial incentives for the parties. For the lessee, there may be little financial gain if the lessee is required to foot the bill for all or part of any cost savings, while the lessor is (thus far) not faced with sufficient preferential regulatory treatment of sustainable buildings. To address this issue, a new optional clause has been added to the updated standard lease agreement, allowing landlords to undertake environmental upgrades during the lease term and apportion the costs of energy‑efficiency measures among tenants.
Due to the strong focus on sustainable buildings, we believe that implementation of environmental measures will have an impact on several aspects, such as the property's value, insurance terms, loan conditions, and the attractiveness of the property in the rental market. Hence, in many situations it might be appropriate to modify the lease agreement, to include the abovementioned optional clause and/or to revise the Environmental Agreement to make it more committing.