Advisory report

Stop land subsidence in peat meadow areas

Rli - september 2020
Subtitel
The 'Green Heart’ area as an example
September 2020
Teasertekst
Land subsidence is leading to increasing problems in peat meadow areas. What choices have to be made to counter the negative effects?
Advies bestand
Advisory report Stop land subsidence in peat meadow areas: the 'Green Heart’ area as an example14.79 MB
Adviesnummer
RLi 2020/05

Background and main question

The land in rural peat meadow areas is subsiding. This is mainly a result of the water level being lowered to make the land suitable for agricultural use. Lowering the water level results in peat oxidation, which in turn causes the land to subside. Land subsidence leads to mounting problems, such as CO2 emissions and a deterioration in the quality of the water and the natural environment. It also increases the costs of water management. Continuing on the path of dewatering, resulting in continuous land subsidence and CO2 emissions, is economically, ecologically and socially irresponsible in the long term. In view of the need to counter climate change and reduce CO2 emissions (including emissions from peat), reducing land subsidence is actually unavoidable. The question to be addressed in this advisory report is: what choices have to be made to counter the negative effects of land subsidence in rural peat meadow areas and who should make those choices?

In this advisory report, land subsidence in peat meadow areas is discussed using the example of the ‘Green Heart’, an area of open countryside situated between the Netherlands’ four largest cities. However, many of the findings and conclusions in the advisory report are also applicable to peat meadow areas outside the Green Heart.

 

Peat meadow areas Stolwijk Krimpenerwaard

Explanation

The Council is of the view that the downward spiral of lowering water levels, peat oxidation and land subsidence must be stopped. Countering land subsidence requires a transition in the water management of peat meadow areas, from lowering water levels to raising them. The national government must provide clear direction for this transition – something it is currently doing insufficiently. The recommendations are as follows:

National policy framework and national goals for reducing land subsidence

The Council recommends a mandatory 50% reduction in land subsidence by 2030 and an indicative target of a 70% reduction in land subsidence by 2050. These targets derive directly from the obligations under the Dutch Climate Act. The Council believes that the targets should be part of a national policy framework on land subsidence, to be drawn up as part of the National Strategy on Spatial Planning and the Environment. The targets should also be laid down in legislation based on the Environment and Planning Act. In 2030, it will be possible to consider more closely whether the indicative target for 2050 needs to be adjusted and which instruments are necessary in order to reach that target.

Area-based implementation

The Council advocates a regional, area-based approach for implementing policy on land subsidence. In consultation with interested parties, provinces should draw up zoning maps to set priorities for different areas. The actual implementation can best be carried out in the areas themselves. For this reason, the Council proposes that regional implementation assemblies be established. These assemblies can be aligned with existing cooperation initiatives. It goes without saying that the water authorities have a key role to play in this implementation.

Funding the transition
For farmers in the peat meadow areas, a rising water level can have far-reaching consequences, as it will inevitably lead to ‘rewetting’ of their land. In many cases, they will have to adapt their business operations to the new situation, for example through extensification, with fewer head of livestock per hectare and/or different crops. They must be supported in this by the government, both financially and with know-how. The Council recommends the creation of a financing system in which farmers can be paid, for example by companies, for the reductions in CO2 emissions that they achieve beyond the current climate agreements for peat meadow areas. The Council also advises the national government to make a conversion premium available to farmers and to provide an implementation budget for restructuring peat meadow areas.

Investing in a knowledge base, monitoring and information
Finally, a solid knowledge base on land subsidence is essential. The Council therefore advises the national government to continue investing in research on land subsidence and to create a national information service. In addition, a national monitoring network is needed to monitor the national target for reducing land subsidence. Furthermore, the Council thinks it is important for the national government to set up an information centre where farmers can obtain information and advice on adapting their business operations.

Research report

In preparation for the advisory report, the Council commissioned a study of rewetting in the Green Heart area, in relation to the cost price of milk and the CO2 price. The research was carried out by Wageningen Economic Research (Daatselaar & Prins, 2020). The final report by WEcR can be downloaded here (pdf) only available in Dutch.

Publication

On 3 September 2020, the Council presented its advisory report ‘Stop land subsidence in peat meadow areas’ [‘Stop bodemdaling in veenweidegebieden’] to the Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations, Kajsa Ollongren, and the Minister of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality, Carola Schouten.

Further information

If you wish to respond or would like more information, please contact project leader Lianne van Duinen, at Lianne.vanduinen@rli.nl

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Overige bijlagen
WEcR study: a study of rewetting in the Green Heart area, in relation to the cost price of milk and the CO2 price - in Dutch555.62 KB

Soils for sustainability

Rli - july 2020
June 2020
Teasertekst
The quality of rural soils is in decline. What are the long-term requirements for sustainable soil management?
Advies bestand
rli_2020-02_vitale_bodem_eng_interactief.pdf4.14 MB
Omslagfoto
Soil, water Swamplike landscape, soil, water
Adviesnummer
Rli 2020/02

Background and request for advice

Rural soils perform many vital functions. They are crucial for agriculture, forestry and nature, and are responsible for water quality, and water and carbon storage. But despite international policies and directives, soils suffer from acidification, eutrophication, desiccation, compaction and a heightened vulnerability. As a result, internationally agreed objectives for soil, nature conservation, water and climate are not being met. Intensive use and hazardous substances are jeopardising soil health, leading to lower agricultural yields and a poor to inadequate ecological quality in protected areas. Water quality also fails to meet the required standards, soils retain too little water and greenhouse gas emissions from soils are too high.

These problems are exacerbated by climate change: organic matter is decomposing more quickly, which diminishes soil fertility and water retention capacity, as well as the storage of carbon and greenhouse gases. And all that in the face of extreme weather conditions resulting from climate change, which means we need soils that can actually store more water and carbon.

In this advisory report, the Council for the Environment and Infrastructure examines what the government can do to restore the health of rural soils in the Netherlands and make them most suited to supporting the activities that directly depend on them (agriculture, forestry, nature conservation, water quality and storage, including drinking water, and carbon storage).

Swamplike landscape, soil, water

Advice

The Council observes that rural soils in the Netherlands are in a poor state. In its report Soils for sustainability the Council argues for a more vigorous soil policy. Maintaining soil health is the responsibility of society in general, but the government also has a key part to play. The Council makes six recommendations.

As land is scarce in the Netherlands, the Council advises the Dutch government to encourage multifunctional use of soils, such as combining agriculture with carbon storage and forestry with water storage. The guiding principle is that the health of the soil determines what uses can be made of the land – ‘function follows soil’. The Council advises enshrining this principle in the National Environment and Planning Strategy and believes the responsibility for translating it into practice should lie primarily with the provincial governments.

Because the existing policy instruments do not ensure that policy objectives are achieved, the Council advises revising them. Again, the guiding principle should be soil health. To inform this process the Council suggests setting up a monitoring and knowledge system to collect and share more information.

In addition, the Council advises amending existing legislation to make soil health a dominant steering principle, and gives examples for the government’s agricultural tenancy, fertiliser and fiscal policies.

Landowners and land users can be encouraged to adopt good practices through targeted remuneration packages, for example via the common agricultural policy or regional branding. Finally, the Council advises the government to encourage ecological restoration in forests and nature conservation areas, for example by providing appropriate grant aid.

With these recommendations the Council aims to put soil health on the political agenda. The details will have to be worked out in practice by all stakeholders, with the government as pacesetter.

Publication date

On 29 June 2020, the Rli published its advisory report 'Soils for sustainability', and presented it to the Minister of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality.

More information

For more information about the advisory report, please contact project leader Nicole van Buren, at nicole.van.buren@rli.nl

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Desirable Tourism

Rli - october 2019
Subtitel
Capitalising on Opportunities in the Living Environment
September 2019
Desirable Tourism: Capitalising on Opportunities in the Living Environment
Teasertekst
How can we manage balanced growth in inbound and domestic tourism in the Netherlands, with the economy, local communities and the living environment being viewed as interacting elements?
Advies bestand
Desirable Tourism: Capitalising on Opportunities in the Living Environment 5.86 MB
Extra adviesbestanden
Infographic-Assessment of impact of tourism on environment and local communities1.88 MB
Infographic-Table of contents for a tourism development strategy813.14 KB
Infographic- Menu of management options3.31 MB
SWECO advisory report85.49 KB
Omslagfoto
Adviesnummer
Rli 2019/04

Background

The number of tourists in the Netherlands has grown exponentially in the past ten years and will continue to do so in the years to come. Tourism now generates as much revenue as the construction sector and more than double that of agriculture. The rising pressure of tourism is also causing ever more problems and inconvenience, however, a situation that is harmful to the living environment and to local communities and that will, in the long term, be detrimental to the sector itself.

In this advisory report, the Council considers how balanced growth in inbound and domestic tourism can be managed in the Netherlands, with the economy, local communities and the living environment being viewed as interacting elements.

Explanation

The Council believes that a change of perspective is needed in tourism policy to prevent tourism growth from causing inconvenience and damage. At present, politicians and policymakers are still focused primarily on increasing tourism revenue. But tourism is not only an economic activity; it also impacts accessibility and the use of public space, real estate, nature and the environment. It is only when an increase in tourism harms the living environment or inconveniences residents that the authorities consider how to counteract its impact. The change in perspective means that government, together with the sector and local communities, must anticipate future trends and developments, a necessary step if we are to strike the right balance between the economic benefits of tourism on the one hand and the carrying capacity of the living environment and local residents on the other. The Rli advisory report Desirable Tourism: Capitalising on Opportunities in the Living Environment offers a framework for analysis in this regard. National government must coordinate to ensure that the proposed policy changes are implemented. Among other things, the Council recommends articulating a national vision statement, structurally increasing the policymaking capacity for tourism, and setting up a ministerial Tourism Committee to foster the necessary change in perspective or, alternatively, incorporating the issue into the Intergovernmental Programme (IBP).

The Council recommends drawing up a tourism strategy for all regions in the Netherlands within two years. Such a strategy would specify where and when to pursue tourism growth and what amenities should be provided. It would also, however, identify those places where a projected increase in tourism is undesirable and what measures can be implemented to influence the number of tourists, how they can be dispersed more effectively, or how inconvenience can be prevented.

It will not be necessary to develop new policy measures to manage tourism. In its advisory report, the Council presents a Menu of management options, containing existing measures from which policymakers can choose to limit adverse impacts and capitalise on new opportunities. Making effective use of these measures, accumulating the necessary knowledge and gaining experience in using them will require extra policymaking capacity and a willingness to invest. In addition, more research must be carried out under the auspices of the national government into the effectiveness of various policy interventions, for example in experimental settings. This approach will safeguard the Netherlands from being ‘caught unawares’ and harmed by tourism growth and ensure that tourism contributes to the quality of the living environment for residents, visitors and businesses.

As background for the advisory report, SWECO carried out a study into the tourism policy of municipalities and provinces. The report is available here (in Dutch only).

Publication

The Council published its advisory report Desirable Tourism: Capitalising on Opportunities in the Living Environment on 6 September 2019 and presented copies to State Secretary for Economic Affairs and Climate Policy Mona Keijzer and Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations Kajsa Ollongren, the latter represented by Director-General Erik Jan van Kempen.  

From left: Rli council member Marjolein Demmers, Director-General of the Interior Ministry Erik Jan van Kempen, State Secretary for Economic Affairs Mona Keijzer, and Rli chair Jan Jaap de Graeff. Photograph: Fred Ernst

Presentation of advisory report - 12 September 2019

The Rli presented its advisory report Desirable Tourism: Capitalising on Opportunities in the Living Environment during a well-attended public meeting held on 12 September. The report was discussed with public administrators, business owners and researchers.

More information

For more information about the advisory report, please contact Douwe Wielenga, project leader, at douwe.wielenga@rli.nl or +31 (0)6-21240809           

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Oorspronkelijke url
https://www.rli.nl/publicaties/2019/advies/waardevol-toerisme

Warmly recommended

Rli - december 2018
Subtitel
Towards a low-CO2 heat supply in the built environment
13 December 2018
Warmly recommended
Teasertekst
What government measures will ensure that everyone concerned is able and willing to work towards a rapid transition to a low-CO2 heat supply in the built environment?
Advies bestand
Warmly recommended2.77 MB
Adviesnummer
2018/07

Background and request for advice

Agreements were made at the climate summit in Paris in 2015 designed to prevent an excessive rise in the earth’s average temperature as a result of the greenhouse effect. In the present government’s coalition agreement this objective was translated into the target of reducing emissions of greenhouse gases by 95% in the period up to 2050 compared with 1990. An interim target of a reduction of 49% was fixed for 2030.

Meeting these targets calls for a transition in our energy supply, in every sector. In one of those sectors, the built environment, the energy supply should switch to low-CO2 heat and cold in homes and other buildings. Only limited progress has been made with the transition in the built environment up to now, especially in light of the challenge. The Council focuses in this advisory report on the following questions:

What measures should the government take to ensure that everyone concerned is able and willing to work towards a rapid transition to a low-CO2 heat supply in the built environment?

What financial measures and what agreements on the role and responsibilities of the public authorities are needed to achieve the objectives defined in the coalition agreement for 2030 and 2050?

children playing in the snow

Explanation and principles

To achieve the Netherlands’ climate targets, the carbon footprint of 200,000 homes will have to be reduced every year up until 2050. That represents almost 800 dwellings every working day for 30 years. In the coming decades, practically every household and every owner of a building will be affected by this operation. The effort and commitment of the public cannot be taken for granted in this process.

The Council observes that two fundamental conditions have to be met to persuade individuals and society as a whole to take the necessary action: clarity and connection with other issues. Greater clarity is needed regarding the division of responsibilities, the size and allocation of the costs and the timetable for the transition. Furthermore, the transition will only succeed if there is more effective communication with society. The prospect of a successful energy transition is only feasible if other issues of concern to a district and to the relevant households can be linked to its implementation.

The Council has found that there are three basic principles that require a political and administrative debate and on which explicit choices could accelerate the transition. They are freedom of choice, division of public and private responsibilities and increased momentum in the initial phase of the transition.

Recommendations

On the basis of clarity and connection with other issues as fundamental preconditions and the three basic principles, the Council makes recommendations for the timetable and the costs and affordability of the transition and for generating public support at the local level.

To provide the clarity that society demands about the course of the energy transition, a consensus on the timetable is essential. The Council makes recommendations for further refining the timetable. In the first stage of the process, for example, in addition to extra government funding, a strategy should be formulated for municipal governance of new infrastructure. Furthermore, energy saving should be a major priority during the first stage of the transition, and by 2040 every government building should be carbon-neutral.

In the Council’s opinion, the construction of heat infrastructure in the public space is a public responsibility. The Council recommends that everyone in a supply area should help pay for the construction of this facility, even individuals who choose an alternative heat supply. At the same time, the costs of heat can vary from one neighbourhood, municipality or region to another. The Council advocates fixing a maximum statutory price for heating, which will require the establishment of a system of regulating costs that embraces the entire spectrum of heat supply (different temperatures, all-electric, hydrogen and biogas).

The energy transition is not a priority for everyone, particularly if they are confronted with other urgent issues such as a risk of flooding or concerns about safety and quality of life. The Council therefore recommends that the plans for the transition should closely match the dynamic in a district and that municipalities should be obliged to include that aspect in their local Transition Visions for Heat and Heat Plans.

Publication

The advisory report ‘Warmly recommended: Towards a low-CO2 heat supply in the built environment’ was presented to Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations Kajsa Ollongren and Minister of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy Eric Wiebes on 13 December 2018.

Information or reaction

For more information about the advisory report, please contact the project manager Folmer de Haan by email at f.w.dehaan@rli.nl or by telephone at +31(0)6 461 524 96.

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Better and different mobility

Better and different mobility

Rli - may 2018
Subtitel
Investing in mobility for the future
23 May 2018
Better and different mobility
Teasertekst
How can the financial resources available for mobility be used more effectively while also exploiting the opportunities for more sustainable mobility?
Advies bestand
Better and Different Mobility2.98 MB
Omslagfoto
Better and Different Mobility
Adviesnummer
Rli 2018/04

Background and request for advice

The Dutch economy is currently going through a period of rapid growth and this is being reflected in busier roads and trains. The number of cyclists is also growing. Traffic congestion (including bicycles), longer journey times and overcrowded trains are no longer the exception. The knee-jerk reaction is to call for more and wider roads and more, longer and faster trains. Investing in expanding capacity has always been a key plank of national transport policy and the Netherlands now boasts an extensive transport network of a quality that is virtually unparalleled. However, urban expansion, threats to environmental quality and the need to cut greenhouse gas emissions make different demands on mobility, while technological innovations such as the electrification of transport and vehicle automation as well as the growing potentials and power of digital platforms and share schemes provide opportunities for changing the way we move around. The core question in this advice, therefore, is how, in this rapidly changing mobility sector, can the financial resources available for mobility be used more effectively?

Photo © Thea van den Heuvel/DAPh: Prins Mauritssingel and Graaf Alardsingel in Nijmegen, with the district of Lent in the background

Advice and recommendations

A number of policy reforms are already being introduced with the aim of responding to the mobility transition. The Council for the Environment and Infrastructure investigated why these reforms are not resulting in the most effective use of the available funds and found three causes. Existing rules and agreements are frustrating the reform process. Moreover, the mindsets of those involved are heavily influenced by established and entrenched practices. Lastly, national, provincial and local governments and transport companies tend to operate primarily in the interests of their own specific mandates. These phenomena are not unique to the mobility sector, but are inhibitory factors in all fundamental transition processes and make it hard for new parties with forward-looking solutions to get a foot in the door. This frustrates the development of sustainable combinations of transport modes that make use of suitable technologies and provide travellers with adequate services.

In this advisory report, the Council presents five recommendations to strengthen the good intentions of the reforms that have already been set in motion.

  1. National government, make the assessment framework for the Mobility Fund much more open to innovative and sustainable proposals.
  2. National government, reserve structural funding for the sustainable maintenance and management of the existing infrastructure.
  3. National government, give clear direction to the mobility transition.
  4. Public authorities, invest in regional solutions that make better and different use of the existing infrastructure.
  5. Public authorities, review and reappraise past decisions on transport and mobility.

 

Publication

The Council presented its advisory report ‘Better and Different Mobility’ to the Minister and the State Secretary for Infrastructure and Water Management on 23 May 2018.

Symposium

Rli held a symposium on ‘Better and Different Mobility’ on 30 May 2018. During the symposium the advisory report was explained and discussed with stakeholders from the mobility sector, paying particular attention to the future of mobility and the transport infrastructure, to innovation and greening the mobility system and to the regional challenges involved.

More information

If you would like more information or if you wish to respond to the contents of the advisory report, please contact Bart Swanenvleugel, project leader, at bart.swanenvleugel@rli.nl.

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The healthy city

Rli - april 2018
Subtitel
Delivering health through environmental and planning policy
18 April 2018
The healthy city
Teasertekst
How can environmental and planning policies for urban areas be designed to achieve health benefits? What should the national government and subnational authorities do to enable this?
Advies bestand
Advisory report The healthy city626.91 KB
Adviesnummer
Rli 2018/03

Background and request for advice

One of the stated aims of the Environment and Planning Act is to establish and maintain a healthy built and natural environment. How that goal should take shape in policy remains unclear to many public authorities. How will this affect the balancing of interests when drawing up environmental strategies and plans? How will it affect sustainable urban development projects? In this advisory report, the Council for Environment and Infrastructure (Rli) offers its suggestions.

The Healthy City seeks to answer the following question:

How can environmental and planning policies for urban areas be designed to achieve health benefits? What should the national government and subnational authorities do to enable this?

Photo: children playing in a park

Main recommendations

The Council feels that public authorities can achieve extra health benefits if they go beyond health protection (traditional environmental policy) and strive towards health promotion. Health is more than the absence of illness. People’s environment should reduce stress, encourage exercise and stimulate social engagement. The Council proposes new options for environmental policy and instruments, research and design, and finance and governance.

Bolstering policy and employing instruments

The Council believes that protecting human health is and will remain an important policy ingredient for a healthy built and natural environment – the Netherlands must, at the very least, comply with the environmental standards in force. Additional health benefits will however require efforts to create an environment that promotes health by enabling and encouraging exercise, social engagement and relaxation. Public authorities should cooperate more effectively,  seek synergies and make full use of the instruments offered by the Environment and Planning Act.

Fostering research and design

Promoting health through the environment will require a more solid evidence base. The effects of health-promoting measures should be better understood, and the results of local interventions better communicated. The Council recommends developing new tools, such as health maps and environmental health stress tests. Design studios can help to bring together parties from diverse backgrounds, help them learn each other’s language and help them to work together towards creative solutions for improving health.

Strengthening the financial base and improving governance

When making investments in the physical environment, consideration should be given not only to health risks, but especially to the health benefits. The 2018 evaluation of the Housing Act should consider whether or not housing associations should be allowed to invest more towards a healthy environment, liveability and public property. To overcome the split-incentive issue, municipalities, healthcare providers and the national government could create local prevention coalitions for the promotion of a healthy environment. In addition, public authorities should work more in interdisciplinary teams to bring together the often-separate worlds of environment and healthcare and to take a more holistic approach to fostering a healthy environment.

Publication date

On 18 April 2018 the Council presented its advisory report The Healthy City to Minister Ollongren of the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations (BZK).

de overhandiging

Program Director General Erik Jan van Kempen receiving the advisory report on behalf of Minister Ollongren (BZK). Rli Chair Jan Jaap de Graeff (m) and council member Ellen Peper (l) (Photo by Fred Ernst)

See the photos of the presentation of the advisory report The healthy city

Urban design workshops

In September 2017, the Council held two urban design workshops on environmental health using three Dutch cities as case studies. The results of these studios are presented in the Dutch-language version of the advisory report. For more detailed information, please see:

These reports were drawn up at the request of the Rli, but their contents remain the responsibility of the design practices.

More information

For more information, please contact Lianne van Duinen (project leader): Lianne.vanduinen@rli.nl

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Sustainable and healthy

Rli - april 2018
Subtitel
Working together towards a sustainable food system
3 April 2018
Sustainable and healthy: Working together towards a sustainable food system
Teasertekst
Dutch climate targets will lead to a lower permissible livestock production capacity and a change in diet. How should food policy be revised to facilitate this transition?
Advies bestand
advisory_report_pdf_3_mb.pdf3.05 MB
Omslagfoto
Sustainable and Healthy and : Working together towards a sustainable food system
Adviesnummer
Rli 2018/02

Background and request for advice

In the long term, Dutch climate targets will inevitably lead to a lower permissible livestock production capacity and a change in diet. The Dutch government should prepare for this transition by adopting a new food policy that will minimise the negative consequences and take advantage of the opportunities that will arise. This is the conclusion of the Council for the Environment and Infrastructure (Rli) in its advisory report ‘Sustainable and Healthy’, which was presented today to Carola Schouten, Minister of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality, and Paul Blokhuis, the State Secretary for Health, Welfare and Sport.

Photo of various vegetables

The key question addressed in the report is what must be done to speed up the transition to a healthy and sustainable food system. The Council’s report focuses on animal products, because their production and consumption make a significant contribution to climate change and to public health and environmental problems.

Recommendations

Rli makes three main recommendations:

Provide clarity on future emission ceilings for livestock farming

In view of the national climate targets, provide clarity on emissions ceilings for livestock farming in 2030 and 2050 as soon as possible. Translate this into a system of emission rights that will be reduced over time.

Negotiate with the provincial governments on how policy instruments and resources can be used most effectively to resolve the remaining environmental and public health problems in regions with high concentrations of livestock.

Work towards sustainable consumption patterns

Set a target of reducing animal protein consumption to 40% of total protein in the diet by 2030. A healthy and sustainable diet contains proportionally less animal protein and more plant protein.

Enlist value chain parties to make production and consumption more sustainable

Work with value chain parties to support healthy and sustainable production and consumption and to develop the market for plant-based protein products.

The required transition in the Dutch food system can be compared with the way national and European agricultural policy brought about food security in the post-war years, which resulted in the leading international position enjoyed by the Dutch agricultural sector. The task of greening the food system now before us provides an excellent opportunity to again unite farmers, the food processing industry, the retail sector and consumers – but this time with the aim of creating a healthy and sustainable food system.

Publication

On 3 April the advisory report ‘Sustainable and Healthy – Working together towards a sustainable food system’ was presented to Carola Schouten, Minister of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality, and Paul Blokhuis, State Secretary for Health, Welfare and Sport. The report was also presented to Eric Wiebes, Minister of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy, Kasja Ollongren, Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations, Stientje van Veldhoven, State Secretary for Infrastructure and Water Management, and the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Overhandiging advies
Minister Carole Schouten (Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality) and State Secretary Paul Blokhuis (Health, Welfare and Sport), being presented with the advisory report ‘Sustainable and Healthy – Working together towards a sustainable food system’ on 3 April 2018 – photo by Fred Ernst.

See the photos of the presentation of the advisory report ‘Sustainable and Healthy – Working together towards a sustainable food system’

More information

For further information on this advice, please contact Hannah Koutstaal, project leader: hannah.koutstaal@rli.nl

 

 

 

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Electricity provision in the face of ongoing digitalisation

Rli - march 2018
15 March 2018
Electricity provision in the face of ongoing digitalisation
Teasertekst
Can the government ensure that the electricity provision remains reliable as the digitalisation of the electricity system enters a new phase?
Advies bestand
advice_eletricity_provision_in_the_face_of_ongoing_digitalisation_rli_2018-01.pdf1.11 MB
Omslagfoto
Electricity provision in the face of ongoing digitalisation
Adviesnummer
Rli 2018/01

Background and request for advice

Digital technology is playing an increasingly important role within the Netherlands’ electricity system. A digitalised electricity supply system is emerging, where decisions relating to storage, supply and consumption are increasingly made with the help of pre-programmed or self-learning software. These developments are occurring in an electricity system that is also undergoing radical change in other respects. The use of renewable energy sources is increasing, more and more companies and individuals are generating their own electricity, and production is increasingly dependent on weather conditions. The continuity and reliability of the electricity supply is now even more important, not least because electricity represents a growing share of the ‘energy mix’. Any disruption of the power supply could lead to personal injury, physical damage and financial losses. A protracted power outage may also cause significant public unrest.

Electricity provision in the face of ongoing digitalisation

This advisory report focuses on how the government can fulfil its obligation to society to ensure an electricity supply that is not only clean and affordable but also safe and reliable, as the digitalisation of the electricity system enters a new phase in the coming years. What risks to the continuity of supply are raised by current and future technological developments? Are appropriate measures in place to manage these risks?

Three types of digital vulnerabilities

In this advisory report, the Dutch Council for the Environment and Infrastructure (Raad voor de leefomgeving en infrastructuur, Rli) analyses the vulnerabilities which may be introduced to the current electricity system by the ongoing penetration of digital technology. These vulnerabilities go further than the threat of deliberate sabotage of electricity provision by cyber criminals. They also include the potential effects of software design errors and the unpredictable ‘behaviour’ of the autonomous systems that are increasingly used to manage the electricity supply. The Council’s analysis of these and other vulnerabilities confirms that the digitalisation of the electricity system does indeed pose new risks to the reliability and continuity for which electricity provision in the Netherlands is known.

The Dutch government is devoting increasing attention to cybersecurity, and that is a welcome development. However, the Council notes that there is insufficient insight into other possible vulnerabilities associated with digitalisation, even though they may have a significant impact on society. The Council has also observed that the government is mainly focused on digital vulnerabilities affecting publicly owned networks. However, the stability of the electricity system as a whole is particularly threatened by vulnerabilities in elements that are not publicly owned.

Recommendations

The Council makes four recommendations in this advisory report:

Investigate the consequences of digitalisation in terms of the reliability and continuity of supply

Focus on the reliability and continuity of the electricity supply

Implement ‘no regret’ measures

For instance, preventive measures and incorporating current knowledge into standards

Create a knowledge infrastructure

This will support joint fact finding, with public sector authorities, grid operators and the market parties within the electricity sector encouraged to share their knowledge

Seek cooperation at the European level

In the area of research, product safety requirements, and pan-European network codes

Publication

On 15 March 2018, the advisory report ‘Electricity provision in the face of ongoing digitalisation’ was presented and accepted by State Secretary Keijzer of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy, and also submitted to Minister Wiebes of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy, Minister Grapperhaus of Justice and Security, the Speaker of the Dutch House of Representatives, and the President of the Dutch Senate.

Mini-conference on 24 April

In order to further elaborate the recommendations made in the report, the Council will organise a mini-conference on 24 April in The Hague (from 18:00 to 20:30 hrs). This event will be headed by advisory committee chair Annemieke Nijhof, and will be attended by Sandor Gaastra, Director-General of Energy, Telecommunications and Competition. Further information will be provided when the programme and speakers have been finalised.

Further information

For further information, please contact project leader Douwe Wielenga by e-mail at douwe.wielenga@rli.nl

 

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Advisory report
Raad
Rli

Land for Development

Rli - june 2017
Subtitel
Land policy instruments for an enterprising society
22 June 2017
Land for Development
Teasertekst
The Dutch Government aims to harmonise land policy legislation. The Council (Rli) argues for a modernised land policy and makes eight recommendations.
Advies bestand
Advisory report565.71 KB
Extra adviesbestanden
Part 2, Chapter 4: Land Policy in other Countries: Examples and Inspiration265.14 KB
Omslagfoto
Cover advisory report Land for development
Adviesnummer
Rli 2017/02

Background and request for advice

The Dutch Government aims to harmonise land policy legislation in a Supplementary Act on Land Ownership, which will be incorporated into the Environment and Planning Act. The Supplementary Act will be crucial in tackling a number of major challenges, such as the energy transition, climate adaptation, and transforming city regions and areas of economic and demographic decline. These challenges often come together in major development projects. Getting such projects implemented depends to a significant degree on being able to use land policy instruments. The instruments should also be suitable for use by private parties, who play a key role in these development projects.

The Council for the Environment and Infrastructure (Rli) endorses the inclusion of land ownership in environmental and planning law and using this opportunity to harmonise, integrate and simplify the relevant policy instruments. However, the Council’s response to the consultation version of the Supplementary Act (1 July 2016) takes a different and more ambitious approach: it looks at the issues from the perspective of the challenges facing major development projects. Are the instruments suitable for taking on the range of complex development tasks and will they work equally well during economic upswings and downswings, in areas with high and low market demand (such as urban regions and regions in decline) and at the local and regional scales? And are the measures compatible with other relevant legislation? The Council suggests improvements where the current proposals are found wanting.

Erasmusbrug Rotterdam, photo: © Thea van den Heuvel/DAPh

Three requirements

The Council’s main conclusion is that land policy should not only be harmonised, but it needs to be modernised as well. The Council identifies three requirements for the Supplementary Act:

  • First, the Act should be compatible with the philosophy and broadened scope of the Environment and Planning Act. The Council concludes that on this score there is room for improvement: the Act does not provide sufficient instruments for implementation, and the instruments it does provide require detailed plans that are not appropriate for facilitative planning and ‘organic’, or incremental, area development.
  • Second, the legislation should support all types of land policy (from active land policy to facilitating land policy) so that subnational players can choose the instruments appropriate to their own projects and the local planning and political contexts. Although the Supplementary Act takes this approach, in some areas it misses the mark, especially concerning the instruments for a facilitating land policy. For example, municipal councils should have the freedom to decide whether or not to make policy instruments available for use by developers.
  • Third, as financial shortfalls are a major constraint on taking projects forward in good time, the legislation should facilitate a better distribution of the costs and benefits of land developments to improve the chances of developments going ahead. Here, too, the Council sees room for improvement, especially on cost recovery and making regional agreements.

Eight recommendations

The Council makes eight recommendations for a modernised land policy:

  1. Make the land policy instruments more compatible with the objectives of the Environment and Planning Act
    The Council recommends that land policy instruments, such as expropriation and pre-emption right, can also be used in pursuit of environmental quality objectives.
  2. Provide instruments for a facilitating land policy
    Municipalities can choose to manage area development projects themselves or bring in private parties (e.g. housing associations, healthcare providers, developers and building cooperatives) and facilitate the development process. The Council recommends that private parties such as these should also be given the opportunity to deploy land policy instruments themselves, under certain conditions.
  3. Link the right to develop to an obligation to develop
    When plans for a new development have been adopted by the municipal government, landowners have the right to carry out the development themselves. The Council recommends making this right to develop conditional upon completing the development by a specified date.
  4. Speed up the expropriation procedure
    In the current situation, expropriation procedures often drag on unduly and those involved are kept in the dark about the expropriation process and the amount of compensation for far too long. The Council recommends giving landowners a legal right to receive a reasonable offer from the expropriating party within a fixed period, backed by a right of appeal to the Council of State, with a time limit on the decision.
  5. Drop proposed urban land readjustment regulations
    Urban land readjustment is when private parties agree among themselves to resubdivide their land and property. The Council believes the proposed regulations for urban land readjustment will have insufficient additional benefit due to their voluntary nature, and so they can be scrapped.
  6. Expand and simplify the possibilities for cost recovery
    The Council puts forward a number of proposals for simplifying the procedures for recovering the costs of land development from the financial beneficiaries. Moreover, the Council does not support the proposal in the Supplementary Act giving municipal councils the option of waiving cost recovery.
  7. Broaden the business case
    Sitting owners and neighbouring residents and businesses who profit from new developments are not required to make a payment towards the development costs. The Council thinks this is unreasonable and argues for a value capturing regulation to permit the imposition of a tax on future value increases resulting from public decisions or actions.
  8. Provide instruments for regional cooperation and redistribution of development gains
    Many development programmes are regional in scale. Mechanisms for redistributing development gains at the regional level, such as from suburban municipalities to a central city in a metropolitan region, have proved to be very tricky in practice. The Council therefore argues for a statutory regulation for redistributing development gains between municipalities that work together on a regional development programme.

Judicious incorporation of the recommendations in the wording of the Act will probably take more time than allowed for in the current procedure. The Council therefore believes that serious thought should be given to postponing the introduction of the Supplementary Act by one or two years. The Council also points out the need to carefully consider how best to implement the new legislation.

Publication

The Council presented its advisory report ‘Land for Development’ to the minister of infrastructure and the environment, Melanie Schultz van Haegen, on 22 June 2017.

More information

For further information on the Council’s advice, please contact Tim Zwanikken: tel. +31 6 52874404./ email. tim.zwanikken@rli.nl.

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Advisory report
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Assessing the Value of Technology

Rli - march 2017
Subtitel
Guidance Document
10 March 2017
Assessing the Value of Technology
Teasertekst
What changes will the application of new technology entail for the economy and society at large, with particular reference to infrastructure and the human environment?
Advies bestand
Advisory report Assessing the Value of Technology3.24 MB
Omslagfoto
Adviesnummer
2017/01

Background and request for advice

New technologies and applications come onto the market every day. We now have smartphones and apps such as Airbnb and Uber. Tomorrow we may well have robots that deliver pizzas and groceries, or buildings made of self-cleaning nanomaterials. We can already see rapid growth in the number of online platforms and big data applications which support the ‘sharing economy’. In short, technology is establishing new relationships within society and within the human environment. In most cases, those relationships are beneficial and complementary. Technology creates new transport options or new ways in which to use our limited space. It facilitates alternative, more sustainable solutions. But there can also be adverse effects: greater pressure on public spaces, disruption of the labour markets, or new forms of scarcity. Whether an effect can be regarded as positive or negative will often be a matter of perspective. Technology itself is never neutral. Its development and application will involve making choices, implicit or explicit, which determine the relationship between technology, society and the living environment.

 

 

The Council has formulated the following questions:

  • What changes will the application of new technology entail for the economy and society at large, with particular reference to infrastructure and the human environment?

  • What are the threats and opportunities with regard to public values, particularly those in the context of the living environment?

  • To what extent are developments covered by existing regulatory mechanisms? Are those mechanisms sufficiently adaptive or is deliberate action needed?

  • What implications do these questions have for the government and other stakeholders?

Strategic and analytical approach to technology

The effects of new technologies and applications are generally difficult to predict and it is equally difficult to assess their potential impact. When will they become apparent? At what level of scale? How will we recognise them? Who will benefit? Are the effects temporary or permanent? In this guidance document, the Council for the Environment and Infrastructure (Rli) contends that not everything is as chaotic as it first appears. Several patterns can be detected and these enable certain effects to be identified on each of the various levels of regulatory mechanisms in our society. The Council offers a strategic and analytical approach to technology-driven developments.

In an earlier publication, ‘Survey of Technological Innovations in the Living Environment’ (Rli, 2015), the Council presented conclusions with regard to the main policy issues within its sphere of expertise. A number of these conclusions are relevant to the current document:

  • Technologies change societal relationships through market shifts, the creation of new economic sectors, or changes to the production chains.

  • The short-term effects of technology are generally overestimated, while the longer-term effects tend to be underestimated.­

  • Technological innovation is driven to a significant degree by societal values, challenges and requirements. Conversely, technology influences social and moral values. The use of technology can alter people’s values and the importance they attach to them.

  • Technological developments demand a different type of assessment and ongoing re-evaluation.

In this publication, the Council is concerned with how the effects of technological innovation on the living environment can be analysed and evaluated. The guidance document proposes an appropriate response to the various developments. The main body of the guidance document discusses a five-step analytical assessment cycle that can be used to gain insight into the effects of technology. By way of example, the Council has applied this assessment cycle to three case studies: the milking robot, local generation of electricity using solar panels, and autonomous vehicles. Finally, the guidance document discusses a number of points for attention when managing developments.

Presentation and discussion meeting

The Council published the guidance document on 10 March 2017. On the same day, the Council also organised a discussion and publication meeting at The Hague Security Delta Campus (HSD). The report was presented to the Minister of Economic Affairs, the Minister of Infrastructure and the Environment, and the Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations. Secretary-General Maarten Camps of the Ministry of Economic Affairs was presented the guidance document by advisory committee chair Niels Koeman. The report’s contents were then explored and applied by stakeholders gathered around several tables. The discussion was preceded by two challenging and provocative introductory talks: one about milking robots by Kees Romijn (Dutch Federation of Agriculture and Horticulture, dairy farming section), and one about the sustainable short-stay rental platform FairBnB by Marleen Stikker (Waag Society).

Further information

For further information, please contact project leader Douwe Wielenga by e-mail at douwe.wielenga@rli.nl.

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Survey of technological innovations in the living environment
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