Editorial review 2026-09-12 · Jurisdiction: Sweden — Environmental Code chapter 2 as Naturvårdsverket explains it
A sustainability slide is not chapter 2 — the operator still carries the proof
Has a Swedish hall already “met the Environmental Code” because a brochure lists heat reuse and renewable contracts, or because a dated chapter 2 file has actually walked the consideration rules? Naturvårdsverket’s consideration-rules hub gathers Environmental Code (1998:808) chapter 2 sections 1 to 10 for use in both permit review and supervision. The “when to use chapter 2” page says the rules are meant to apply generally, including where there are no specific ordinance rules, and including for activities that are mainly regulated by other sector law. An operator shall meet all of the rules to the extent that is not unreasonable under section 7, and it is the operator who shall know what the rules mean for the activity. The same page says a permit application under chapter 22 section 1 point 4 shall contain proposed protective measures and the other particulars needed to judge how the general consideration rules are met. Section 2, as Naturvårdsverket quotes it, says everyone who pursues or intends to pursue an activity or take a measure shall obtain the knowledge needed, given the nature and scale of the activity, to protect human health or the environment from harm or nuisance. Section 3 carries the duty to take the protective measures and other precautions needed to prevent harm, and, in professional activity, to use best possible technique. Section 5 carries resource husbandry and a duty to reduce waste, including through reuse or recovery, and to use energy sparingly and preferably from renewable sources. Section 6 carries the location principle: the activity shall be placed where it causes the least intrusion and nuisance. Section 7 says the duties in sections 2 to 5 and section 6 first paragraph apply only so far as it is not unreasonable, with particular regard to the benefit of the measures compared with their cost. Section 8 carries the remediation duty. Sections 9 and 10 carry the stop rule: an activity that can still be feared to cause harm despite the required precautions may be allowed only if the government finds special reasons. Those are statute and agency sentences. They are not a reserved megawatt, not an egenkontroll log and not a Meta Luleå, Microsoft Gävle–Sandviken–Staffanstorp, Google Horndal, EcoDataCenter Falun or atNorth SWE04 badge. The self-monitoring page already owns the later control duty. The A/B/C page already owns the first-instance letter. This page only asks which published chapter 2 object the hall file is sitting on. This is orientation, not counsel.

General orientation. Assess the specific project separately. Applies to: Readers placing a Code-compliant, BAT or sustainable-so-permitted sentence on a Swedish hall environment file.
Reading order
Name the operator before you name the badge. Naturvårdsverket’s “when” page puts the proof burden on the person who pursues or intends to pursue the activity. A municipal welcome letter, a heat-reuse slide and a TSO indication are other papers. Write who is said to be the verksamhetsutövare before you say chapter 2 is “met.”
Then walk the rules as separate rows. Knowledge, precaution and best possible technique, product choice, resource and waste husbandry, location, reasonableness, remediation and the stop rule are different tests. The hub says some rules can weigh more than others depending on the activity and the recipient, but the operator still has to show why a rule is less relevant. A brochure that names only heat reuse has not walked the list.
Then keep permit review and supervision on separate later desks. The “when” page says both a permit application and a notification case should systematically walk all of the rules. If the activity cannot meet chapter 2, the supervisory authority can prohibit it under chapter 26 section 9. If it can meet chapter 2 only with precautions, those precautions shall be prescribed and reasoned. Those later tools are not a hall BAT certificate.
Then keep named project rows as paper classes. Microsoft names Gävle, Sandviken and Staffanstorp. EcoDataCenter names Falun. Google names Horndal. atNorth’s SWE04 note names Sollefteå. evroc names Arlandastad. None of those pages is a chapter 2 walk, a section 7 reasonableness note or a stop-rule file for a named Swedish hall.
- Operator and proof burden before any sustainability slogan.
- Each section 2 to 10 stays on its own row.
- Permit review and supervision are later desks.
- A heat-reuse slide is not the location test.
What chapter 2 actually measures
Knowledge measures a duty to learn the activity and the surroundings, not a purchased report title. Naturvårdsverket’s knowledge page, quoting section 2, says the operator shall obtain the knowledge needed to reduce the risk of harm, and that the duty lives in supervision as well as in a permit case. A consultant logo is not that showing.
Location measures a comparison of places, not a municipal welcome. Section 6 asks for the place with the least intrusion and nuisance. A land-allocation letter and a detaljplan are other papers. They do not, by themselves, show the chapter 2 location row.
Reasonableness measures a benefit-versus-cost weighing of protective measures, not a hall price list. Naturvårdsverket’s section 7 page, quoting the Code and government bill 1997/98:45, says the duties apply only so far as they are not unreasonable, with particular regard to the environmental benefit compared with the cost, and that other factors can also enter. This page will not invent a kronor figure for a named hall.
Keep egenkontroll, miljörapport and the A/B/C letter on the pages that already own them. Chapter 2 is the general duty that those later papers may have to show. It is not a substitute for them.
What named primary sources show
Environmental Code chapter 2 sections 1 to 10 remain the statute. Naturvårdsverket’s consideration hub and “when” page remain the dated agency desks used here.
Those pages do not, in the files used here, name a chapter 2 decision for a named Swedish hall. Named operator rows remain geography.
The A/B/C page, the self-monitoring page and the environmental-report page remain other desks. This page will not copy their clocks.
A matrix instead of a sustainability slogan
Draw one page with paper rows and evidence columns. Proof burden, knowledge, precaution and technique, location, reasonableness, remediation and the stop rule are different rows. Who is the operator, which dated showing and which later permit or supervision paper are different columns. Empty cells stay empty.
Do not invent a hall BAT badge from a heat-reuse slide.
| Object | What a source can show | What this page will not invent |
|---|---|---|
| Proof burden | NV “when” page — the operator shall show chapter 2 | A brochure as proof |
| Knowledge | 2:2 — knowledge needed for the activity’s nature and scale | A purchased report title |
| Location | 2:6 — least intrusion and nuisance | A welcome letter as the place test |
| Reasonableness | 2:7 — benefit versus cost of precautions | A hall kronor figure |
Common misreads
The first misread is to treat a sustainability slide as chapter 2. The second is to collapse knowledge, location and reasonableness into one “BAT” badge. The third is to treat a detaljplan or a land allocation as the location row. The fourth is to treat chapter 2 as a substitute for egenkontroll or the A/B/C letter.
The fifth is to invent a hall price from section 7. The sixth is to treat residual “U” activities as free of chapter 2. The seventh is to use a groundbreaking in Luleå, Falun, Horndal or Arlandastad as proof that a named chapter 2 walk already exists.
What to ask next
Ask which dated paper anyone is quoting — a knowledge note, a location comparison, a section 7 weighing, a chapter 22 application annex, or only a contractor slide — and which rule it names. Ask who is said to be the operator.
Then open the A/B/C page, the self-monitoring page and the environmental-report page. If the operator will not name the rule and the showing, record the gap. Do not fill it from a sustainability slogan. This page is not legal advice.
- Is the live paper a chapter 2 row — or only a slide?
- Has the operator and the proof burden been named?
- Has location been shown, or only a welcome letter?
- Has chapter 2 been treated as egenkontroll?
- Has a campus town been treated as a dated walk?
What this does and does not prove
This page proves that Naturvårdsverket already publishes chapter 2 as a general operator duty with a proof burden, separate tests and a reasonableness limit — and that those facts are not a reserved hall megawatt.
It does not prove that a named Swedish hall holds a dated chapter 2 walk. It does not invent a BAT badge for Horndal or Arlandastad. It does not treat a brochure as proof.
Empty cells stay empty. Until a later primary source names the operator, the rule and the showing, chapter 2 stays a method, not a census. DataCenterSweden records the method.
Sources
- Swedish EPA — Consideration rules, Environmental Code chapter 2 — Naturvårdsverket (publication date not stated). Checked 2026-09-12.
- Swedish EPA — When chapter 2 of the Environmental Code applies — Naturvårdsverket (publication date not stated). Checked 2026-09-12.
- Environmental Code (1998:808) — Sveriges riksdag (publication date not stated). Checked 2026-09-12.
- Environmental assessment and permits — Naturvårdsverket, 2026-01-01. Checked 2026-09-10.
- Microsoft opens its sustainable datacenter region in Sweden — Microsoft, 2021-11-16. Checked 2026-09-10.
- EcoDataCenter 1, Falun — EcoDataCenter, 2026-01-01. Checked 2026-09-10.
- Horndal, Sweden – Google Data Center Location — Google Data Centers, 2026-09-01. Checked 2026-09-11.
- New 300MW mega site in Sollefteå, Sweden — atNorth, 2026-02-23. Checked 2026-09-11.
- evroc finalizes land purchase in Arlandastad, Stockholm — evroc, 2025-02-03. Checked 2026-09-10.