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Advice of Rli, RVS and ROB to the Dutch government: A change of approach is needed in the area of regional policy

Press release Rli - 27 march 2023

There are significant regional disparities in wellbeing in the Netherlands and these disparities are widening. Government policy should focus on countering undesirable disparities, as compensating for deficits alone is not enough. Investment in long-term regional development is needed throughout the Netherlands. When making policy choices, the government should place the emphasis not only on economic returns, but also on the impact on society and the environment in all regions of the Netherlands. This is the advice given by the Council for the Environment and Infrastructure (Rli), the Council of Public Health & Society (RVS) and the Council for Public Administration (ROB) in the advisory report ‘Every region counts! A new approach to regional disparities’, which was handed over to the Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations, Hanke Bruins Slot, on 27 March 2023

There are significant differences between the regions of the Netherlands, from a cultural perspective and in terms of the environment and landscape. These differences make living in the Netherlands worthwhile, but the increase in undesirable disparities between the Dutch regions is alarming. Regions such as Zeeuws-Vlaanderen, Kop van Noord-Holland, the Veenkoloniën, Twente and Parkstad Limburg have long had to contend with significant deficits, such as lower life expectancy and poorer access to jobs or education.
 

Every region counts!
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Work programme 2023-2024

21 february 2023

In the coming years, the Council’s aim is to help accelerate the necessary transitions in the wider domain of the physical human environment. Because the associated challenges are closely intertwined, most of the Council’s advisory reports will transcend the boundaries of the four ministries responsible for the physical domain. 

Themes work programme 2023-2024

Three subjects from the 2022-2023 work programme will continue into 2023:

  • Policy for business parks
  • ‘Forgotten’ Netherlands?
  • Framework Directive on Water

The council proposes five new themes for its 2023-2024 programming. These themes are briefly explained in this letter:

  1. From throw-away economy to sustainable products
  2. Long-term spatial consequences of climate adaptation
  3. The juridification of the social debate on sustainability and the environment
  4. Sustainable construction
  5. Overall well-being in environmental policy practice

The 2022-2023 work programme also included a proposal for an advisory report entitled “Green recovery – Green Deal” [Groen uit de crisis – Green Deal]. This was prompted by a request from the Dutch government in March 2021 for the Council to assist it in considering what is needed for a green economic recovery following the Covid crisis. Since then, however, the Dutch economy has recovered at lightning speed and is now plagued by very different problems, such as scarcity in the labour market, high inflation, energy scarcity and declining purchasing power. The Council will therefore refrain from issuing an advisory report on recovery policy. In its place, the Council intends to prepare an unsolicited advisory report entitled “implementation capacity”.

In addition to the above-mentioned topics, in the coming years the Council will supplement its regular work with advice based on interim and final outcomes of the evaluation of the Environment and Planning Act.

Finally, it is worth mentioning that the Council is considering issuing unsolicited advice on the complex issues in the living environment that are to be resolved in the next governmental term.

See for up dates of the topics 'In preparation'

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The work programme 2023-2024 summarises the advisory topics, the latest status, and the schedule going forward.

Finance in transition

Rli - december 2022
Subtitel
Towards an active role for the financial sector in a sustainable economy
22 december 2022
Teasertekst
The financial sector will have an important role to play in the transition to a sustainable economy. This will not happen by itself, however. Government direction is needed to ensure the financial sector actually prepares for and contributes more quickly to the transition.
Advies bestand
Advisory report Finance in transition2.08 MB

Background and request for advice

The climate and biodiversity crisis is presenting the Dutch economy with a major challenge in the area of sustainability. New economic activities will have to be developed, while many existing activities will need to be phased out or converted. This will require significant investment. The challenge of becoming more sustainable will also involve risks that financial institutions and regulators must prepare for. The financial sector therefore has an active role to play in the transition to a sustainable economy.

The central question addressed in the advisory report ‘Finance in transition: Towards an active role for the financial sector in a sustainable economy’ is:

‘What options does the government have to steer financial institutions in such a way that they anticipate a sustainable economy and contribute to the transition towards it?’.

illustration of a one euro rolling through the grass

Explanation

At present, there is far too little sustainable investment in the Netherlands. Although a great deal of money was available on the financial markets over the past decade, very little of it found its way into sustainable economic activities. The supply of (high-)risk capital for innovations and the supply of long-term finance were inadequate. Given the current macroeconomic environment, this situation is at risk of deteriorating further. There is a mismatch between the supply of and demand for sustainable finance and the Rli fears this gap is widening.

Furthermore, banks, pension funds, insurers and asset managers will need to redirect their financial flows to ensure they themselves get through the transition with as little damage as possible. It is important to escape the downward spiral and phase out funding for non-sustainable activities, while increasing financial flows channelled towards sustainable activities, such as circular business, renewable energy infrastructure and sustainable agriculture.

Measures such as the pricing or banning of negative sustainability impacts are important, but are not sufficient on their own to allow the financial sector to fulfil its role in the transition to a sustainable economy. In its advisory report the Rli therefore recommends that the government take targeted measures.

Although the financial sector has undertaken some initial steps in recent years, we can still see four barriers to progress within the sector:

  • The vast majority of parties remain focused on short-term returns.
  • Rules and supervision are not sufficiently geared towards sustainability.
  • Government bonds are overrepresented in pension fund portfolios, which means opportunities to invest in the transition to a sustainable economy are being passed up.
  • Government funding and support for sustainable projects are fragmented.

The Rli considers it unlikely that the financial sector will be able to take the necessary steps independently. It believes that additional government policies will be needed to achieve these steps: not only stimulating and facilitating policies, but also policies that force the sector to act. In other words, a carrot-and-stick approach. Broadly speaking, the Council’s advice is therefore as follows:

  • Embed sustainable development in the business model of financial institutions. Make sure banks adjust their calculation models for assessing investment proposals to avoid impeding the transition to a sustainable economy and broaden the scope of reporting on sustainability policies so that this covers more than just CO2 emissions. Ensure, for example, that the impact of economic activities on biodiversity and resource consumption is also reported on.
  • Give sustainability greater prominence in financial sector rules and supervision. Ensure that De Nederlandsche Bank and the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets also monitor the sustainability impact of finance and link the amount of tax that banks pay to their sustainability performance.
  • Encourage sustainable investments within the new pension system. The overhaul of the pension system can be used as an opportunity to ensure that pension funds can invest more in the Netherlands’ sustainable economy, while maintaining the expected return on their investments.
  • Create a fully-fledged national investment institution. Combine and strengthen existing institutions and instruments. Invest-NL and parts of the National Growth Fund and Climate Fund could form the basis for a new investment institution in which the government and business community could work together to significantly increase sustainable investment.

Date of publication and public meeting

The advisory report was handed over to the Minister of Finance, Sigrid Kaag, on 22 December 2022. A public meeting to discuss the report will follow on 14 February 2023.

More information

For more information about the advisory report or the meeting, please contact the project leader, Joris Stok: joris.stok@rli.nl, tel. +31 (0)6 1324 6502.

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Towards a sustainable food system

Rli - october 2022
Subtitel
a position paper on the framework law
31 october 2022
Teasertekst
In 2022, the European Commission announced a framework law aimed at supporting the transition to a sustainable food system.
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Advisory report Towards a sustainable food system: a position paper on the framework law743.05 KB
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Rli/EEAC

In response to the European Commission’s proposal, the Dutch Council for the Environment and Infrastructure (Rli), together with several fellow European councils, issued a position paper on 31 October 2022 on several key aspects of this forthcoming framework law.
 

Background and request for advice

In May 2020, the European Commission presented its ‘farm to fork’ strategy. In this strategy, the Commission announced special legislation: a framework law for sustainable food systems. This framework law should contribute to increased coherence in the food system, from food production to consumption, as well as the socio-economic and environmental outcomes of all these activities at both European and national levels.

The European Commission started preparing the framework law in 2022. This prompted a group of advisory councils, with Rli council member Krijn Poppe as rapporteur, to draw up a position paper addressed to the European Commission and EU member states, in the context of the European Environment and Sustainable Development Advisory Councils Network (EEAC Network), on some key aspects of the upcoming framework law.

Cover Towards a sustainable food system: a position paper on the framework law

Notes
 

European society and its food system face a triple challenge: 1) ensuring a healthy diet for all; 2) mitigating and adapting to climate change; and 3) protecting and restoring habitats for their biodiversity and ecosystem services. Effectively addressing this triple challenge in the complex context of the European food system requires a systems approach. The framework law that has been announced is necessary for this purpose. In their position paper, the councils consider five key aspects of this upcoming framework law:

1. General principles

The councils argue that the general principles of the law should help ensure that the strong innovative capacity of actors in the food chain is no longer used to achieve ever lower food prices. Instead, their innovative capacity should be harnessed to accelerate the transition to sustainable agriculture, food processing and food consumption.

In addition, the advisory councils advocate that the framework law contributes to an equitable transition to a sustainable food system. If necessary, cost increases for consumers should be offset by income tax measures, the minimum wage or social security, for example. Falling incomes on the producer side should be met, if necessary, by direct income support and payments for public services. This calls for consistency between EU policies for sustainable food systems in the single market and social and fiscal policies in the member states.

2. Certification and labelling

Certification and labelling are important tools that the framework law can use. Certification should allow classification of farms and food as more or less sustainable. This supports benchmarking and price differentiation, for example, enabling sustainable action in the chain to be rewarded through actions such as public contracts, support in the land market and/or the allocation of advisory capacity. Implementing a certification system should and can be done quickly. Further digitalisation in the food chain can boost certification while reducing administrative burdens. Labelling can then help in further developing a market for sustainable products and strengthening the information position of actors throughout the food system. 

3. Policy instruments to encourage actors in the food system

The framework law should target all actors in the food system and the position paper develops recommendations for the various actors. These recommendations assume a system of certification and labelling. For example, food processing companies and retailers could be asked to include the sustainability aspects of their procurement in their ESG reporting, and the government could use certification and labelling to implement procurement policies that encourage demand for sustainably produced food.

The councils recommend using other instruments besides certification and labelling to encourage actors in the food system to help make the system sustainable. VAT regulations could be changed, for instance, so that animal products are taxed more heavily than, say, products with a lower carbon footprint and/or health benefits, such as fruit and vegetables. Furthermore, the councils recommend not exempting the food system (including agriculture) from instruments such as an economy-wide carbon tax.

4. Monitoring food system policy

The Framework Law should ensure that monitoring is based on data describing the sustainability of the entire system, including the behaviour and sustainability performance of different categories of actors in the value chain. Proper monitoring should help underpin the food system policy debate with facts, according to the advisory councils.

It is also important to measure all sustainability indicators in an integrated way, and to collect them using a methodologically sound approach that can be audited. Such an approach should provide insights that can be used to see the effects of policy measures on farms, including unforeseen trade-offs. 

5. Governance

To effectively manage the European food system, and properly coordinate current policy, the councils recommend setting up a coordination group that includes European Commissioners whose DGs are involved in food systems in a broad sense. In addition, a coordination mechanism should be established between the European Commission and national ministries to coordinate actions and measures. This mechanism should work across all policy areas (such as agriculture, fisheries, environment, competition, and health and social policy). Member states should also develop comprehensive national strategic plans for sustainable food systems, including social measures for an equitable transition.

Publication date and online public meeting

The position paper was issued on 31 October 2022 and presented and explained to European Commission Executive Vice-President Frans Timmermans in December 2022 by a number of EEAC network delegates, including Rli Council member Krijn Poppe. In addition, the EEAC Network, in cooperation with the Permanent Representation of the Netherlands to the EU, organised a meeting in Brussels on 2 February 2023. The position paper’s findings were discussed with national and international invitees.

Various councils also brought the paper to the attention at national level. In the Netherlands, Rli Chair Jan Jaap de Graeff and Council member Krijn Poppe presented the position paper in the executive committee of the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality. 

Presentment to Timmermans

Pictured from left to right are Krijn Poppe (Rli Council member and author of the position paper), Frans Timmermans (Executive Vice-President of the European Commission for the Green Deal), Arnau Queralt Bassa (Chair of the EEAC Network), Jan Verheeke (Chair of the Working Group on Ecosystem Services, EEAC Network). 

Information or response

If you wish to respond or would like more information, please contact Folmer de Haan, project manager,f.w.dehaan@rli.nl, +31 (0)6 4615 2496

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Energy transition calls for diligent decision-making on nuclear power stations

Press release Rli - 7 september 2022

Over the coming years, the Council for the Environment and Infrastructure (Rli) is anticipating a political and public debate on the organisation of our future energy system and the possible role of nuclear energy within it. Decisions in this area will need to be taken diligently and be future-proof to avoid putting the 2050 climate targets at risk. In its advisory report ‘Splitting the atom, splitting opinion?’, which was presented on 7 September 2022 to the Minister for Climate and Energy Policy, Rob Jetten, the Rli identifies the issues that should be addressed in the decision-making process relating to nuclear energy. It also describes the best way to conduct the public debate in this area.

Debate on nuclear energy must focus on five values

The coalition agreement of the fourth Rutte government includes an agreement to support the construction of two new nuclear power stations. Within Dutch society, opinions are very much split on the use of nuclear energy within our future energy system. However, the Rli has also noted that five values are considered important within the context of the debate and the decision-making process. These are energy supply certainty, affordability, safety and security, sustainability and justice.

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Splitting the atom, splitting opinion?

Rli - september 2022
Subtitel
Decision-making on nuclear energy based on values
7 september 2022
Teasertekst
The energy transition calls for diligent decision-making on the role of nuclear energy. Over the coming years, this issue will be the subject of public and political debate. What aspects should be considered as part of this process?
Advies bestand
Advisory report Splitting the atom, splitting opnion?2.4 MB
Adviesnummer
2022/04

Background and request for advice

Over the coming years, the Council for the Environment and Infrastructure (Rli) is anticipating a political and public debate on the organisation of our future energy system and the possible role of nuclear energy within it. Decisions in this area will need to be taken diligently and be future-proof to avoid putting the 2050 climate targets at risk.

The advisory report does not address the question of whether new nuclear power stations should or should not be built, but instead focuses on how best to conduct the public debate on this topic.

The main question addressed in the report is: What considerations must be made when deciding on a possible role for new nuclear power stations within the carbon-neutral energy system that the Netherlands will have to realise in the near future? And what recommendations can be made based on this for the reflection process and the exchange of views that the government and parliament must undertake before decisions are made?

Explanatory notes

The coalition agreement of the fourth Rutte government includes an agreement to support the construction of two new nuclear power stations. Within Dutch society, opinions are very much split on the use of nuclear energy within our future energy system. However, the Rli has also noted that five values are considered important within the context of the debate and the decision-making process: energy supply certainty, affordability, safety and security, sustainability and justice. At the moment, these values are not being sufficiently considered in the discussion about our energy system and the possible use of nuclear energy within it. To allow choices to be made within and between these values, a technical assessment is needed and ethical issues have to be considered. Consequently, there should be greater scope for ethical reflection during the debate and the decision-making process.

Taking the five values as a basis, the advisory report provides an overview of relevant knowledge that is needed to make considerations, drawing on factual information available in the literature. Before this in-depth examination of the subject matter, the report also illustrates what Dutch people think about the future role of nuclear energy and what arguments they use.

To allow the debate to be conducted effectively, the Rli recommends as follows:

  • Policy choices on the role of nuclear energy should not be taken in isolation, but should be incorporated into the choices relating to the energy system as a whole.
  • Before such choices are made, factual knowledge must be enhanced in relation to four specific points and the debate should then be focused on seven policy questions.
  • There should be clarity about the technical and ethical trade-offs that the government and parliament have made when interpreting the five values.
  • Citizens should be involved explicitly in the debate on this subject, in a manner that goes beyond the public participation procedures required by law. In principle, the Rli considers a citizens’ assembly to be a suitable form of civic participation when it comes to making choices about our country’s future energy system and the possible role of nuclear energy within it. The Council therefore supports the proposal made by Minister Jetten to look into the role that a citizens’ assembly could play.

Date of publication and public meeting

The advisory report was handed over to the Minister for Climate and Energy Policy, Rob Jetten, on 7 September 2022. During the meeting various panel members expressed their views on the advisory report’s key message and the main issues requiring further debate.

More information

For more information about the advisory report or the meeting, please contact Bas Waterhout, project manager, bas.waterhout@rli.nl, tel: +31 (0)6 21178802

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Solving the housing crisis requires more action from housing associations and municipalities

Press release Rli - 18 august 2022

Social housing stock needs to expand considerably in the next few years. That’s why central government needs to considerably step up efforts to maximise the performance of housing associations and municipalities. In its advisory report ‘Providing shelter: maximising the performance of housing associations’, presented today to Minister for Housing Hugo de Jonge, the Council for the Environment and Infrastructure (Rli) makes a number of recommendations including legislating on the number of social housing units to be built and requiring municipalities to provide sufficient space to build them. The Rli also believes that central government should focus much more than in recent years on ensuring that the performance agreed with the housing associations is delivered. Moreover, the minister must intervene if insufficient social housing is being built.

More housing association homes and their compulsory inclusion in environmental plans

The Constitution imposes a duty of care on the government to provide ‘adequate housing’. The Rli has concluded that the government is failing in this duty of care and that housing associations are needed in order to meet this obligation. Housing associations currently rent over 2.3 million affordable rental homes, generally of reasonable quality.

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Providing shelter

Rli - july 2022
Subtitel
Maximising the performance of housing associations
16 June 2022
Teasertekst
Housing associations in the Netherlands play an important role in providing housing for households that find it difficult to do so themselves. But does this role fit with the social challenges over the next ten to fifteen years?
Advies bestand
Advisory report Providing shelter 4.06 MB
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Rli-2022/03

Background and request for advice

The Rli notes that housing associations are regularly in the public and political spotlight. They are seen as a vehicle for achieving various policy objectives, such as dealing with the continuously worsening housing shortage, limiting rising housing costs, and improving the sustainability of the housing stock in order to achieve climate goals. But housing associations are also seen as a solution to the problems of housing vulnerable people who need care and of providing housing to the homeless, and as a way of creating stable living environments where people can offer one another help. And while all these social wishes are being formulated, there is suspicion of the associations, because there have been excesses in the past involving very risky and sometimes unlawful behaviour by associations, because their real estate is extremely valuable and because there is a great deal of autonomy in making investment and other decisions. The Rli notes that the size and social significance of housing associations are considerable, but that it is unclear what wishes and expectations they need to meet over the coming decades, and what basic conditions are needed to do this.

A great deal has changed over past decades in the organisation of housing associations, policy and the social challenges in the area of housing. The policy-defined target groups, the financial frameworks within which the housing associations operate, the legal frameworks and regulation – all these matters have changed repeatedly and fundamentally in the light of changing social needs. The current framework within which housing associations operate has been shaped to a great extent by the privatisation of these organisations in 1995 and the Dutch Housing Act of 2015 and its amendments.

The foregoing has led to the following request for advice: What role should the housing associations fulfil, given the current problems and expected developments in the housing market, and what consequences does this have for the rules and financial frameworks used in government policy for housing associations?

Explanatory notes

The Council has reached the conclusion that it is time for a rethink of national public housing policy, with a particular focus on the role of housing associations. Housing associations are indispensable for the government to secure adequate and affordable rental supply, however the government needs to place a greater focus on the performance of these associations. There are a number of obstacles that need to be addressed. For example, the performance expected from housing associations is not yet sufficiently clear and the contribution of municipalities towards that performance is still too voluntary. Mutual financial solidarity of housing associations is also not properly regulated at present. The Rli makes six recommendations:

1. Set national new-build targets for social rental housing and elaborate these targets at regional level

Set national targets for the proportion of new social rental housing as a fixed percentage of total new construction. Also do this for other issues concerning social renting, such as the housing of housing policy target groups, sustainability and affordability of housing, and the resilience of neighbourhoods. Laying down the national targets for longer than one cabinet term, for example in the announced Public Housing (Management) Act, provides other parties with a framework for their efforts and performance. Specify the national targets at regional level, so that differences between housing market regions and the challenges ahead can be taken into account.

2. Secure the stock of regulated rental housing

Make sure that, overall, the stock of housing association homes is increasing. Do not introduce a general right to buy for sitting tenants, but maintain a situation in which housing associations decide whether or not to sell homes. In addition, stimulate the purchase of private rented homes by housing associations to maintain the level of social rented stock and improve its quality in vulnerable areas.

3. Promote the supply of social housing by parties other than housing associations

Invest in broadening the supply of social housing by parties other than housing associations, particularly not-for-profit organisations, such as philanthropic organisations or housing cooperatives. Develop tax incentives , to enable these organisations to attract capital more easily.

4. Reinforce implementation of performance agreements with housing associations

Ensure that local housing visions and policy plans of the housing associations and performance agreements between municipalities, tenants’ organisations and housing associations contribute to the objectives of the national housing policy. Amend the Dutch Housing Act so that the Minister for Housing and Spatial Planning is able to hold both municipalities and housing associations to account for improvements in performance. Moreover, make ‘cooperation with care and welfare organisations’ an additional public housing priority.

5. Manage the availability of development land and define the designation ‘social’ when allocating land

Require municipalities to incorporate the national targets for social and affordable housing in their environmental plans. This can be done by including an instruction rule in the Living Environment (Quality) Decree. Furthermore, when allocating land, municipalities must set requirements for the realisation of ‘social housing’ to ensure that developers and investors have a clear framework and a level playing field.

6. Manage the financial continuity of housing associations and their mutual solidarity

The coalition agreement of the fourth Rutte government agreed to ‘switch to a system of standard rents based on income’. Make sure that this does not undermine a sustainable revenue model for housing associations, thus hindering investment in public housing tasks. Furthermore: regulate financial solidarity between housing associations together with the repeal of the Landlord Levy Act, to allow housing associations with insufficient financial resilience to realise their tasks. Adjust the Housing Act-based project grant system to simplify the rules for application and levy, and make it possible to avoid the levy if a housing association provides voluntary support to a fellow association.

Date of publication and public meeting

The advisory report was presented to Minister De Jonge for Housing and Spatial Planning on 16 June 2022.

On 29 June, a public meeting was held about the advisory report, with speakers from the various parties involved.

More information

For more information about the advisory report, please contact project leader Douwe Wielenga at douwe.wielenga@rli.nl, or on +31 (0)6 2124 0809

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Nature-Inclusive Netherlands

Rli - march 2022
23 March 2022
Nature-Inclusive Netherlands
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Nature in the Netherlands is declining at an alarming rate, even though robust nature is crucial for the quality of life here. What does this mean for our current nature policy? The Council for the Environment and Infrastructure issued an advisory report on this subject on 23 March 2022.
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Advisory report 'Nature-Inclusive Netherlands2.93 MB
Adviesnummer
Rli 2022/01

Background and request for advice

Nature is declining at an alarming rate worldwide and the Netherlands is no exception in that regard. From agricultural areas to nature reserves and from inland waters to urban areas, the quality of nature and biodiversity is declining everywhere. This is a troublesome development, because robust nature is crucial to combating climate change and ensuring a sustainable food supply. It is, moreover, essential to people’s health and wellbeing to have nature in their immediate surroundings. Nature also plays a vital role in securing drinking water, healthy food and clean air. Nature is therefore essential for human existence.

In response to this biodiversity crisis, the Council for the Environment and Infrastructure (Rli) has examined whether the Dutch government’s current nature policy is adequate and, if not, what changes are needed.

Nature in the city

Explanation

The Council concludes that Dutch nature policy is falling short. There are a number of reasons for this:

  • The focus of nature policy is too narrow. It concentrates mainly on protected areas, but these areas are part of much larger ecosystems that extend beyond the protection boundaries. The current policy fails to ensure proper conditions for groundwater and surface water, the soil and the ecosystem. The narrow scope of the Netherlands’ nature policy also means that nature in rural and urban areas is often neglected.
  • Dutch nature policy is not sufficiently linked to other societal challenges. The government has stalled in its efforts to interweave the challenges related to nature with other activities and to move towards a nature-inclusive society. Well-intentioned parties in society in fact face all kinds of obstacles in that regard.
  • Nature is not given enough weight as a factor in economic and political decision-making. It is mainly perceived as an expense and as a fringe interest that hampers economic growth. Policymakers appear to have a blind spot when it comes to the importance of nature for human existence.
  • The various authorities do not cooperate enough. They lack a coherent approach to governance and fail to cooperate with other parties. They also fail to systematically monitor the results of policy and to put independent oversight in place.

It is crucial for the Netherlands to reverse the decline of its natural assets and to restore nature. To do this, the government will have to work much harder towards shaping a nature-inclusive Netherlands. The Council has four recommendations in this regard:

1. Ensure that the quality of nature is adequate everywhere

The Netherland’s current nature policy is ineffective. The narrow focus on protected nature areas will not reverse biodiversity loss. The authorities must also work to restore nature and biodiversity outside these areas. More green spaces are needed in and around towns and cities that everyone can easily walk or cycle to. Nature must also be restored in rural areas, where it has suffered serious deterioration in recent decades. The Council advocates establishing a minimum quality standard for nature on a region-by-region basis.

2. Integrate the approach to nature into the transformation of the Netherlands

The Netherlands will be undergoing a major transformation in the years ahead in response to the many challenges it faces, for example in housing construction, the energy transition, climate change adaptation, the nitrogen crisis and the transition to more sustainable agriculture. This transformation will create excellent opportunities for nature restoration outside the protected areas. Many public and private organisations and municipal authorities are also willing to adopt more nature-inclusive practices, but they will only succeed if the authorities support their efforts and fully commit to nature-inclusive policy objectives themselves (e.g. by setting a good example when managing or leasing government-owned land). The Council recommends a regional approach that integrates nature restoration and the other challenges society faces, along with relevant sector-specific agreements. The necessary funds can be provided through the Climate and Transition Fund and Nitrogen Fund, among others.

3. Take nature fully into account in economic and political decision-making

Nature is still mainly regarded as an expense in economic and political decision-making and is therefore not accorded its full due. There are still too many financial and other incentives that promote nature loss; damage to nature goes unpunished and nature restoration unrewarded. The Council therefore recommends gearing subsidies and tax measures in agriculture, industry and nature management towards building a nature-inclusive society and giving the value of nature more weight in economic and political decision-making.

4. Cooperate on a regional basis

Integrating spatial planning challenges requires a region-by-region approach that can be implemented jointly by all parties involved, each one assuming its own role and carrying out its own tasks. The Council therefore supports the Government’s intention of adopting an integrated, region-by-region approach to challenges. Nature-related challenges must be linked to other challenges at regional level. That should apply across all regions, whether rural or urban. Systematic monitoring and independent oversight of progress and performance are necessary.

Date of publication and public meeting

The advisory report was presented to the Minister for Nature and Nitrogen Policy on 23 March 2022. It was also presented to the Minister of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality, the Minister of Housing and Spatial Planning and the Presidents of the Senate and House of Representatives.

From left: The Minister for Nature and Nitrogen Policy, Christianne van der Wal, receiving the advisory report from Jan Jaap de Graeff (Rli Chair), André van der Zande (Rli Member) and Yvette Oostendorp (Rli Project Leader). Photograph: Marco de Swart

Online public meeting – 19 May 2022

The Rli organised an online public meeting on 19 May about its advisory report Nature-Inclusive Netherlands.

More information

For more information about the advisory report, please contact project leader Yvette Oostendorp at yvette.oostendorp@rli.nl or +31 (0)062702 0642.

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Work programme 2022-2023

10 february 2022

In the coming years, the Council’s aim is to help accelerate the necessary transitions in the wider domain of the physical human environment. Because the associated challenges are closely intertwined, most of the Council’s advisory reports will transcend the boundaries of the four ministries responsible for the physical domain. 

Work programme 2022-2023

Several subjects from the 2021-2022 work programme will continue into 2022:

  • Position and future of the system of housing associations
  • Reviewing nature policy
  • Nuclear energy

The council proposes five new themes for its 2022-2023 programming. These themes are briefly explained in this letter:

  • Finance and sustainability transitions
  • Green recovery - Green Deal
  • Policy for business parks
  • Forgotten Netherlands?
  • Water Framework Directive

In 2022, the council also wishes to consider, in consultation with the departments, whether it is desirable for the council to advise on the implementation of the energy transition. For example, there may be added value in an advisory report on the role of risk policy in the energy transition, more specifically on how the health and safety risks of new energy technology and the declining risks of fossil fuel phase-out are weighed.

See for up dates of the topics 'In preparation'

Werkprogramma
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Each year the Council produces a work programme which is subject to the approval of the ministers of Infrastructure and Water Management, of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy, of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality, and of the Interior and Kingdom Relations.
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