publicaties

Advice

The Council stresses the importance of conducting a flexible agricultural policy and making flexible use of EU agricultural funds over the coming period. The changes needed to establish circular agriculture cannot all be made at once, primarily because the farming practices involved are still developing in an ongoing process of research, experimentation and innovation. The basis for payments to farmers should be periodically reviewed and revised in line with the growing body of knowledge, new insights and increasingly specific objectives for circular agriculture. This will be possible if the EU agricultural funds are gradually decoupled from income support and increasingly linked to results obtained from climate and environmental measures. These results-based payments can be calculated using a points system based on performance indicators. Periodically raising the climate and environmental performance standards will induce farmers to gradually incorporate circular agriculture principles and practices into their farm management.

The transition to circular agriculture is not limited to farmers alone, but is a task for the whole agri-food supply chain; it is not only agriculture, but the whole food system that will have to change. Linking the eco-schemes via a points system to private-sector sustainability schemes will lead to the emergence of a revenue model for circular agriculture, both for farmers and for other businesses in the agri-food chain. This linkage will considerably reduce the administrative burden, not only for the public authorities but for the agricultural sector as well.

The Council also advises repairing the proposed reductions in the EU budget for sustainable rural development and keeping this budget at least at the current level, and where necessary raising it to fund additional investments in climate and environment. The Council argues that this budget is indispensable for supporting the transition to circular agriculture through knowledge exchange, experimentation and sharing practical experience in soil improvement, biodiversity conservation and climate mitigation and adaptation. In addition, money should remain available to reward farmers for public services in the form of agri-environmental and water management.

Publication

The Council presented its advisory letter ‘European Agricultural Policy: Working Towards Circular Agriculture’ to Carola Schouten, the Minister of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality, on 22 May 2019. 

More information

The advisory letter, explanatory memorandum and accompanying infographics can be downloaded from this site.

If you would like further information or wish to comment on the advice, please contact Hannah Koutstaal, project leader, at Hannah.koutstaal@rli.nl or call +31 6 11797505.

Early stages of implementation

In its study of the Southwest Delta the Council looked at the four sustainability agendas that will have a big impact on this region: the energy transition, the food transition, the transition to a circular economy and climate adaptation. These agendas will bring about major changes in the region, including the transformation of the industrial base, the transition to large-scale generation of renewable energy, greening the existing housing stock and the recreation sector, the construction of flood protection works and adaptation to drought, and switching to circular agriculture. Various initiatives in the Southwest Delta are already contributing to these structural adjustments. Most, however, are still small scale and the results are limited in relation to the targets for 2050. The process of realising these sustainability agendas is therefore still at an early stage.

Little sign of substantive linkages between agendas

As the sustainability agendas in the region still consist overwhelmingly of policy intentions, the substantive interrelations between the agendas and with the regional challenges remain largely hidden. This will change as soon as implementation of the agendas starts to pick up. The Council expects it will not be long before the need for a coherent and integrative approach, both substantive and procedural, will come to the fore. Unique opportunities can be created by cleverly combining elements from different agendas. An example is the construction of a tidal power plant in a flood barrier that has to be altered in line with projected sea level rise. Conversely, problems can arise where transitions converge, for example if they compete for space, money, labour or political attention. Such difficulties can be averted by devising smart combinations.

Effective regional partnerships a must

The Council observes that an impetus is needed to inject vigour and decisiveness into regional decision-making. Work on the agendas must be expedited and scaled up. Moreover, the Council observes that the regions must respond more proactively to the growing convergence between agendas. Crucial to achieving both of these things is a strong regional system of partnerships between government, market players, knowledge institutes and civil society organisations.

Conclusion: five strategies for stronger regions

The Council concludes that an integrative regional approach is needed. The Council identifies five – interrelated – strategies to strengthen this integrative approach to implementing the sustainability agendas at the regional level.

1. Create stronger links between national government and the region: the regions will not be able to realise the sustainability agendas without the national government; conversely, national government needs the regions. The Council makes the case for a more active role for national government in the region and calls upon national government and the regions to work on the agendas as equal partners.
2. Society should be more involved in finding solutions to the challenges: the Council is in favour of an area-based approach in which government engages the public in an active dialogue on implementing the agendas in their own areas.
3. Turn the sustainability agendas into an opportunity to tackle regional challenges: sustainability is often seen as a threat, but the Council observes that the sustainability agendas are actually an opportunity for regions to tackle their own specific challenges.
4. Focus efforts on innovation and knowledge building for sustainability: to take the agendas forward it will be important that knowledge building and the educational offer tie in with regional labour market policies.
5. Use the power of design to cement the interrelations between the sustainability agendas: design can be a powerful tool in the process of visioning, policymaking and implementation to bring the linkages between agendas into focus.

Publication date: 26 March 2019

The report ‘The Sum of the Parts: Converging national and regional challenges’ was presented to Han Polman, King’s Commissioner for the Province of Zeeland, on 26 March 2019.

More information

If you would like more information about this report, please contact Tim Zwanikken, project leader: tim.zwanikken@rli.nl, +31 (0)6 52874404.

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.

Explanation and points of departure

A central message in the advice is that the urgency of the building challenge must not lead to the subordination of other tasks that contribute to the quality of the living environment. After all, the new homes being built today will become tomorrow’s residential environments. The Council’s second message is that there is no quick fix for accelerating housing production. The Council therefore calls for a sense of realism on the part of all the stakeholders. The Council further argues that a lot of homes need to be built in the Netherlands, but not everywhere. Only in a number of regions that are experiencing persistent housing shortages.

In its advice, the Council makes a number of proposals for accelerating building production. The Council also expresses the view that in addition to increasing the number of houses being built, the minister’s policy should also be devoted to making the housing market more stable. At present, the production of homes is extremely sensitive to swings in the economy.

Recommendations

The recommendations concern short-term measures that can be taken to support the dialogue the minister has started in regions where the housing market is tightest, as well as measures that will have an impact in the longer term, but which should be taken on the short term.

1. The minister should focus exclusively on regions where the housing market is tight and there are structural housing shortages, on the basis of a long-term commitment;
2. The discussions of the regional round tables should address the following issues: improving the monitoring of planning capacity, producing good regional data, endeavouring to get away from the ‘greenfield-infill (re)development’ dichotomy in planning developments and prioritising locations and areas;
3. Municipalities should strive to increase the building density at inner-city locations;  
4. Resolve problems relating to the accessibility of building locations;
5. Use existing instruments and develop new ones to persuade land owners to actually build in accordance with a zoning plan;
6. Enable housing associations to invest more in building production by introducing a discount on the landlord levy for new-build properties;
7. Adopt measures to make housing market policy more anti-cyclical over time.

Publication

The advisory letter ‘Accelerating housing production, while maintaining quality’ was presented to Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations Kajsa Ollongren and the presidents of the House of Representatives and the Senate on 28 June 2018.

Information or reaction

For more information about the advice, please contact Lianne van Duinen, project leader, lianne.vanduinen@rli.nl, tel +31 (0) 6 15369330.