Faces of the Eurovent Commission: Andreas Martinsson
The Eurovent Commission participant Andreas Martinsson, Technical and Environmental Manager at Svensk Ventilation, has been involved in the HVAC sector since 2010. He gives us a viewpoint in our ‘Faces of the Eurovent Commission’ series, on the mandate of Svensk Ventilation and the Taxonomy Regulation.
Andreas Martinsson joined a Heating Ventilation Air Conditioning (HVAC)-design company soon after graduating from his engineering studies in 2010. After a couple of years, he changed from designer to sales engineer for a manufacturing company and worked for different manufacturers within the sales and business development department before joining the Swedish industry association Svensk Ventilation, as Head of Technology and Environmental questions. For our ‘Faces of the Eurovent Commission’ series, the Eurovent Team had a few questions for him about Svensk Ventilation and the breakdown of the Taxonomy Regulation.
Could you briefly inform us on what Svensk Ventilation is and its main focus point?
Svensk Ventilation’s vison is a healthy and energy efficient indoor climate for everyone. We try to achieve this by being the Swedish industry association for ventilation, with members from all the different trades within the industry. To achieve our vision, we work closely with our members to develop guides and recommendations for the industry as well as a lot of work is carried out to influence the different decision makers like politicians, authorities, standardisation, regulations, etc.
Speaking of standardisations and regulations, may you explain to us what Taxonomy Regulation and Technical Screening Criteria (TSC) is all about and also the overall status of taxonomy in Sweden?
The goal of the Taxonomy Regulation is in my opinion to give a standardised way of showing that your property or company is ‘green’ to attract investors and better financing possibilities. This is on a high level, but when digging further down on what needs to be done in practice, we use something called Technical Screening Criteria (TSC) that defines which products are to be calculated in the taxonomy calculations because they are considered ‘green’. However, for our industry, there is a very limited number of products that are aligned in the TSC, this then means that since the majority of the products being made are still in many cases considered ‘green’ but not in the TSC, it will falsely make the companies that make these products to look to investors as not as good as they really are.
This is something we realised that it has to be changed if the taxonomy, for the ventilation industry, for it to be so effective as the regulations want it to be. So starting in 2022, we at Svensk Ventilation together with our member companies started to look into this issue and try to find a solution. So far, we published a first version of our interpretation on how we can use the taxonomy among our members.
About Svensk Ventilation
Svensk Ventilation represents the ventilation companies in Sweden – manufacturers, installers, service companies, dealers and consultants. Its member companies together, employ approximately 10.000 people in Sweden.
The organisation highlights the importance of indoor air for health and the possibilities of ventilation technology to reduce energy use in their buildings. Svensk Ventilation represents the industry vis-à-vis authorities, government and the EU – when it comes to legislation and regulations. In addition, it makes visible the industry’s need for skills development and new recruitment of young people.
About the Eurovent Commission
Eurovent’s Member Associations are represented in the Eurovent Commission, which is Eurovent’s steering committee. The Eurovent Commission does not only define the general political guidelines of the association, but also monitors and mediates the activities of its subordinated Product Groups. It also serves as a forum for exchange of information and cooperation between the Member Associations. The Eurovent Commission ensures that Eurovent positions are always broadly representative of wider European interests across all sizes of enterprises. The Eurovent Commission elects a Chairperson for a three-year term and appoints a Vice-Chairperson for a one-year term according to a rotating schedule. Both are automatically members of the Eurovent Board.