Pia Ohrling is an experienced sustainability Consultant. She has worked in the building and property industry for more than 30 years and with Sustainability for 20 years.

Pia is one of Sweden's leading environmental and expert consultants with more than twenty years of experience in environmental certification and sustainable buildings. She is a trained structural engineer at KTH, Stockholm and has worked for the major environmental consulting companies in Sweden. In 2010, she started Piacon to be able to influence the construction and real estate industry to a greater extent based on her genuine environmental commitment.  

Pia has completed a number of successful environmental certifications, e.g. the world's first certified building according to BREEAM In Use International and Sweden's first pre-certified LEED building. She is a popular lecturer and holds courses in LEED, BREEAM, Environmental Construction and Work Environment and leads training courses at the Sweden Green Building Council (LEED and BREEAM). 

Pia is a member of the Sweden Green Building Council (SGBC) and is part of the LEED committee. Between the years 2014-2021, she was active in the Technical Council for BREEAM SE. In the autumn of 2022, Pia was appointed a LEED Fellow – a prestigious title which means that you represent the top tier in the design, technology and development of green buildings. She is currently the only representative of LEED Fellow in the Nordics. 

Pia is a committed and competent manager who is passionate about sustainability issues. She likes to farm, create habitats for bumblebees and wild bees, and cook and renovate things.

Show Highlights

• Pia shares how to navigate all the certifications systems available in Sweden (LEED, BREEAM, Miljöbyggnad, etc…)  to each client project. 
• The challenges with credits and systems like LEED in different  areas and parts of the world to consider.
• Adapting to the taxonomy, the European Green Deal, and the World Green Building Council when creating and managing projects. 
• Pia’s shift towards engineering and becoming an environmental engineering specialist and entrepreneur will motivate “who better than you to do it.” 
• The evolution ALL certification systems need to raise the bar to look at the bigger picture for sustainability and biodiversity.
• Pia’s company specializes in sustainability and pushes clients towards really wanting to make positive change, not just certify their projects. 
• She shares how to say "no" when clients  just want to certify on the lowest level.

“Sometimes we think solutions are too easy. We think that 'Oh we can do that. We'll just change to this way.' But sustainability isn't that simple. There are so many things you need to think about, like biodiversity. There’s no quick fix.”

-Pia Ohrling

Get the episode transcript here!!

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