Caroline Jacobsson

What is your area of expertise? 

My background is in business development, and over time my work has become increasingly focused on circular economy, specifically how circular business models can be applied to technical installations and HVAC. Today, my expertise is really about circular transition in the building and property sector, with a particular focus on HVAC systems and how we can make circularity practical in this part of the industry. 

Why does this area matter so much right now? 

Because if the building and property sector is serious about reaching climate goals, we need to address embodied carbon, not only operational energy. HVAC systems account for a meaningful share of a building’s embodied climate impact, and in renovation projects they are often replaced several times over the building lifecycle. That means they play a major role in the total footprint. Circular working methods are therefore not a niche issue; they are necessary if we want to move towards net-zero buildings. With stricter regulatory requirements now approaching under the revised EPBD, circularity can also make a meaningful difference in helping reduce embodied carbon and meet future expectations. 

Is circularity in HVAC still a new topic for the industry?  

Yes, very much so. The construction industry has already started working more actively with circularity for some materials, but technical installations have not come nearly as far. There are still many barriers to overcome, and very few suppliers have chosen to engage seriously in solving them. That is why this is still a relatively new field, even though the need is already very clear. 

How can we create greater interest and awareness among customers? 

I think many people still do not realise how large a share of the climate impact comes from these products, and at the same time they often assume circular HVAC solutions are complicated. There is uncertainty around performance, guarantees and functionality. So a big part of the work is simply to show that it does not have to be difficult. If you set the right requirements and choose the right solution, circular alternatives can be just as straightforward as traditional ones. 

Who is the primary target group for this message? 

Property owners are probably the most important group, because this is fundamentally their challenge to solve. In the Nordic market, contractors are also highly engaged in reducing the climate footprint of their projects. At the same time, many of the practical requirements will land with consultants and installers, since they are the ones who need to deliver the solution. In other words, the incentive may sit with property owners and developers, but success depends on the whole chain. 

What is the biggest customer benefit of circular HVAC solutions? 

Lower embodied carbon is clearly one major benefit, but it also creates other value, such as enabling greener financing and helping customers meet growing sustainability expectations. What makes Swegon’s offer different is that we do not only deliver a circular product, we can also help balance climate impact, energy performance, functionality and cost. That combination matters, because the right solution is rarely about one parameter alone. It is about finding the right system balance for each building. 

If you had 15 seconds with a property owner in an elevator, what would you say?  

I would say that solutions already exist today that are simple to implement and can significantly reduce a building’s climate footprint. The key is knowing that these options exist, and making sure the right requirements are set from the start. 

What is the biggest challenge in scaling this up? 

The biggest challenge today is not a lack of customer interest, but a lack of product availability. There is real demand for reused and circular HVAC solutions, but we do not yet have enough recovered products coming back into the system to meet that demand. This means the industry has to rethink how demolition and dismantling are handled. Many of the technical and logistical challenges can be solved by suppliers like us, but access to products depends on the wider market changing how it works. 

How can Swegon become better at communicating this expertise? 

I think one of our challenges is that we still come from a strong product-supplier tradition. We are very good at talking about products and solutions, but not always as good at communicating the value they create. In this field, that matters. Customers are not primarily interested in the product itself, they want help solving a problem. So we need to talk more about outcomes, customer value and business impact, not only about what we manufacture. 

Is this expertise area unique to Swegon?  

In practice, yes. Today we are the only supplier offering this type of circular HVAC solution at industrial scale. That is what makes the work so exciting: there is no established blueprint. We have had to go first, build the methods ourselves and show that it can be done in a structured and scalable way. 

Where do you see the circular HVAC field in 10 years?  

I believe circular solutions will be much more standard by then, and the reuse business will be more industrialised and more systematically integrated into projects. At the same time, there will still not be enough reused material to cover all demand, which means we will also need to continue improving newly produced products through smarter materials and lower climate impact. Over time, raw materials are also likely to become more expensive and more constrained, which will create even stronger incentives for circular alternatives. 

Is there one striking fact that captures the potential of circularity?  

Yes: a reused product can have as little as 5–10% of the climate footprint of a newly produced product. That is a very powerful reminder of how much can be achieved by working with what already exists. Another important insight is that even products that were originally designed without circularity in mind can often be upgraded, improved and given a new life.