Background and request for advice
The government's target of building 100,000 new homes a year comes with a high level of resource consumption and high associated carbon emissions. Housing construction is responsible for around 5% of the Netherlands' carbon emissions. In order to meet climate targets, these emissions must therefore be reduced.
The advisory report focuses on new housing construction. It identifies five strategies for the more sustainable use of materials in housing construction: (1) using fewer building materials, for example by subdividing existing homes or by building smaller homes; (2) using fewer and/or lighter technical installations for heating, cooling and ventilation ('low-installation building'); (3) reusing building materials and using recycled raw materials; (4) using bio-based building materials, such as wood or fibre plants; and (5) using low-carbon versions of conventional building materials, such as more sustainable concrete or 'green' steel.
The main question addressed in this advisory report is: What conditions does the government need to create to promote a shift towards the use of sustainable building materials that goes hand in hand with the creation of large numbers of affordable new homes?
Explanation
Sustainable construction is already possible
One of the Rli’s key findings is that building with sustainable materials need not come at the expense of the affordability and availability of new housing. Frontrunners in the construction sector are showing that it is already possible to build with sustainable materials. Particularly when combined with prefabricated construction, the use of sustainable materials often leads to a faster construction process and similar or slightly higher prices. There are several known examples of prefabricated timber construction of single-family homes and medium-rise buildings that have even turned out less expensive.
Central government needs to provide direction to avoid a new construction crisis
However, a large proportion of parties in the construction chain – for various reasons – do not yet know how to make the transition to building with sustainable materials. They are awaiting direction and further clarity from the government. The result is insufficient demand for sustainable building materials, which means that the production of these materials cannot benefit from upscaling advantages. In addition, existing building regulations and procedures are not yet sufficiently tailored to building with sustainable materials.
To get the entire construction chain moving, the Rli calls on central government to provide direction. National government needs to use a combination of regulation and pricing mechanisms to stimulate demand for homes made of sustainable materials. The European Union aims to reduce carbon emissions from the use of materials in housing construction from 2030 onwards through its Whole Life Carbon approach. To this end, the Dutch government needs to draw up a sufficiently ambitious roadmap that sets out increasingly tightened limit values and targets for material-related carbon emissions, with the ultimate goal of a climate-neutral construction chain in 2050. On top of this, as an additional incentive and to create a level playing field, the Rli proposes the introduction of a levy on homes that do not meet the targets set. It is important that the construction chain quickly learns to build with sustainable materials in order to meet the limit values and targets, which will become stricter over time, to avoid a construction crisis after 2030.
Major added bonuses
The transition to building with sustainable materials, which goes hand in hand with opportunities for prefabricated housing construction, also offers a wide range of added bonuses such as reducing geopolitical dependencies, prospects for agriculture, higher labour productivity and better working conditions on the construction site. It can also lead to more comfortable homes that offer a healthier living environment.
Recommendations
The Rli makes the following recommendations to central government, decentralised authorities and parties in the construction chain.
Bring Dutch regulations in line with EU policy
In the context of the EU’s Whole Life Carbon approach, the government needs to draw up a national roadmap setting out limit values and targets for material-related carbon emissions in housing construction. We recommend that a more ambitious CO₂ limit value is set voor 2030 than the current standard, which is easily achievable for most builders. A distinction should be made here between low and medium-rise buildings on the one hand, and high-rise buildings, which have a larger carbon footprint, on the other. An ambitious approach will also alleviate the urgent need for municipalities to set their own requirements in the absence of guiding national standards. This removes the current hotchpotch of local requirements that builders currently face.
Introduce a levy as an incentive for the use of sustainable materials in housing construction
Demand from commissioning parties for sustainably built homes needs to increase in order to achieve a steady transition to building with sustainable materials. Central government can help to stimulate this demand. We recommend introducing a levy on less sustainably built homes in 2030 that will increase over time. The levy will need to be borne by the party applying for planning permission and must apply to homes that do not meet the targets set out in the national roadmap.
Update procedures and regulations
The transition to the use of sustainable materials requires changes to government building regulations. We advise central government to ensure greater transparency when it comes to the actions of standards and certification committees for new building materials, with more input from manufacturers of sustainable materials and independent experts. In addition, building regulations should promote measures such as building smaller, low-installation building, reusing materials and using bio-based building materials. We recommend that municipalities facilitate housing construction with sustainable materials in their municipal environmental and planning policy and in urban planning and visual quality plans.
Prepare the construction chain to build with sustainable materials
Central government will need to prepare the construction chain for the standards that will become part of the national CO₂ roadmap. In turn, the construction chain will need to ensure that all parties involved adopt the new (in some cases digital) skills and routines associated with the use of sustainable building materials. Central government, property developers, housing associations, prefabricated construction firms and municipalities also need to reach agreements on the construction of sustainable prefabricated low and mid-rise housing.
Publication
The advisory report 'Building for the future' was received on 19 June 2025 on behalf of Minister Keijzer of Housing and Spatial Planning by Chris Kuijpers, Secretary-General and Director-General for Housing and Building.
F.l.t.r. chair of the Rli-committee and council member Karin Sluis, Secretary-General and Director-General for Housing and Building, Chris Kuijpers and Rli-chairman Jan Jacob van Dijk. Photo: Wiebe Kiestra.
Information
For more information about the advisory report or to comment, please contact the project leader Bas Waterhout at bas.waterhout@rli.nl or on +31 (0)6 21178802.