Project

Business case Plants for a healthy indoor climate

Plants can contribute significantly to improving the indoor climate of office buildings. They increase the humidity, purify the air and provide a beneficial environment. This may result in economic benefits, for example, because artificial climate control is less frequently used, or due to an increase in productivity.

The influence of plants

Over the past three years, a consortium consisting of Wageningen Environmental Research, Fytagoras, IVN and several companies, have studied the effect of plants on the indoor climate and health and wellbeing of workers in companies.

The research showed five positive effects that can be linked to the presence of plants in the work environment.

Research in businesses

The new three-year research project is founded on this study. In this project, we focus on elaborating and substantiating the business case. What factors are important, and how can we map the business case of investing in plants clearly (in terms of Return on Investment, for example). The study, which is carried out in nine participating companies, is already underway and will last until the end of 2021.

Collaboration

This project is a collaboration between knowledge institutes (Wageningen University & Research and Fytagoras) and businesses (Royal Flora Holland, Noviflora, Dutch Green Building Council, PRIVA, De Groene Stad Foundation) and is partly funded by the Topsector Horticulture and Source materials.

Wageningen Environmental Research contributes expertise on measuring wellness and wellbeing; Fytagoras has experience in measuring the effect of plants on air quality. The remaining parties have knowledge of buildings and the sector. Thanks to these contributions, the costs and benefits can be calculated per case.

This project is being carried out in the Netherlands.