Dutch stop subsidising heat generation by burning wood chips

DutchNews, April 23, 2022 

Ministers have agreed to immediately stop giving subsidies for the use of biomass, or wood chips, to generate heat for city heating schemes and greenhouses, the economic affairs ministry has confirmed. 

Dutch biomass plants, which are supposed to help comply with EU climate goals, have been given billions of euros in subsidies in the last few years. They have, however, become deeply controversial because of longer-term damage to the environment. 

‘Organic raw materials play an important role in achieving a climate-neutral and circular economy,’ climate minister Rob Jetten said in a statement. ‘They are also crucial in becoming less dependent on fossil fuels… at the same time, the government is aware of the concerns.’ 

The government, he said, would approve the use of sustainable bio-based raw materials where they make the greatest contribution to sustainability and where alternatives are limited. 

This includes bioconcrete, paint based on bio-based raw, green gas as a replacement for natural gas, or as a fuel for heavy road transport, aviation and maritime shipping. 

Pollution 

In July 2020, the Dutch government’s senior advisory body SER recommended that subsidies for the use of biomass in power stations be phased out quickly. 

However, the Dutch environmental assessment agency PBL says the use of biomass may be unavoidable if the Netherlands is to meet the EU targets. 

Without using biomass, the Netherlands will have to install wind turbines and solar panels more quickly than it is currently doing, and other difficult choices will have to be made, the PBL said. 

The use of biomass, such as wood chips, as a fuel generated an extra 19 megatons in carbon dioxide emissions in 2020, according to calculations by national statistics agency CBS. 

The Netherlands has also been under fire for importing wood chips from the US and the Baltic states to burn in power plants.

Public prosecutor starts criminal probe into Tata Steel pollution

DutchNews, February 3, 2022 

The Tata Steel plant in IJmuiden. Photo: Depositphotos.com

The public prosecution department is starting a criminalinvestigation into the possible ‘intentional and unlawful’ discharge of ‘hazardous substances into the soil, air or surface water’ by IJmuiden-based Tata Steel and Harsco Metals Holland. 

The department told the two companies on Wednesday it is starting the investigation into the ‘potential endangerment of public health’ following a complaint brought by lawyers on behalf of 800 locals and a number of interest groups. 

Lawyer Bénédicte Ficq made the complaint on behalf of locals last year.  She says that the factories have been dumping dangerous chemicals into the ‘air and soil of a densely populated area’. 

Last month, public health institute RIVM said the Tata steelworks in IJmuiden is the main source of metal and polycarbon-based pollutants in the IJmond region, and figures collected by the regional health board show the pollution is more serious than the company’s own records would indicate. 

The study is the third by the RIVM into pollution in the area. 

In September, MPs called for tougher environmental standards for the Tata steelworks, suggesting closing the most polluting operations and even mooting partial nationalisation.

Improvements 

In December, the government published a seven point plan to improve air quality around the plant, which means Tata Steel will have to meet tougher rules on pollution and will face extra checks to make sure it complies. 

Three foundations, supported by several wealthy individuals, have also started their own investigation into the increased risk of cancer and other diseases in people living close to the steel works. 

The public prosecution department said it would make no further comment on the case while the investigation is in progress.

Shell ordered to slash CO2 emissions more quickly in landmark court case

DutchNews, May 26, 2021 

Photo: Sem van der Wal ANP

Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell must do more to fight climate change and slash its carbon dioxide emissions more quickly than planned, judges in The Hague said on Wednesday. 

‘Shell must do its part to contribute to the fight against dangerous climate change,’ the court said. ‘The oil company is required to reduce the carbon dioxide emitted by the Shell group and its customers by 45% net by the end of 2030, compared with the level in 2019.’

Milieudefensie, the Dutch branch of Friends of the Earth, led the case against the The Hague-headquartered multinational, which was supported by other environmental groups and some 17,000 ordinary citizens. 

The environmental group argued that Shell is violating Dutch liability law by emitting two times as much carbon dioxide as the Netherlands as a whole. Shell argued that these emissions do not come from its headquarters but its subsidiaries in some 80 countries around the world, and any complaint must be taken up with them directly. 

Milieudefensie director Donald Pols told reporters before hearings started in December 2020 that the lawsuit was ‘unique’. He claimed that if the environmentalists were successful, this would be the first court to order a private company to change its business model to reduce its carbon footprint. 

Shell had argued that it cannot be held liable in the Netherlands for events that take place worldwide. ‘The scene of the crime, in this case, is the location where the emissions take place,’ a Shell lawyer told the court. 

Urgenda 

Activists worldwide are watching the case closely. Following a 2019 Dutch Supreme Court ruling, known as the Urgenda decision, the Dutch government was ordered to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25% of 1990 levels by the end of 2020. 

That ruling found that the Dutch government was required to meet the conditions of international treaties, including the Paris climate agreement. 

In the present case, Shell argued that because it isn’t a party to such treaties, as they are between nations, it isn’t obliged to meet their targets. 

Shell is facing pressure to change its strategy on several fronts. Earlier this month, some 30% of Shell shareholders backed a motion by campaign group Follow This at the company’s AGM, calling on the oil and gas giant to draw up a more ambitious plan to help meet Paris agreement climate targets.

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Government gives in to pressure, brings in partial firework ban

DutchNews, February 2, 2020 

New Year fireworks in Enschede. Photo: Depositphotos.com

There will be enough different sorts of fireworks available for people to continue to enjoy the New Year festivities, acting home affairs minister Stientje van Veldhoven has confirmed, following the government’s decision to bring in a partial ban. 

The cabinet agreed on Friday to end the sale of rockets, bangers and firecrackers to the public from this year because these are the cause of most injuries and pose the most danger to emergency service workers. 

Prime minister Mark Rutte said earlier this month that such a move was on the cards, after it emerged that two people died and almost 1,300 people were treated for firework-related injuries during this year’s festivities. 

The decision to bring in the ban, Van Veldhoven said, is in line with police and safety board recommendations. The Dutch safety board had called for such a ban in 2017. 

Details about how the ban will be monitored and enforced will be worked out later, as will the level of fines. 

The new rules also allow cities to ban fireworks in specific areas or altogether, as Rotterdam and Amsterdam have indicated they may do. 

The Dutch pyrotechnic association said in a reaction that it would respect the ban but pointed out that some sellers had already bought stocks for this year’s celebrations. 

They should be compensated for the financial loss, the organisation said. 

Rutte said at his weekly press conference on Friday that there would be no compensation for firework sellers because this is one of the risks of doing business.

Right fire for right future: how cultural burning can protect Australia from catastrophic blazes

The Guardian, Lorena Allam, Sat 18 Jan 2020

Traditional knowledge has already reduced bushfires and emissions in the top end, so why isn’t it used more widely?

Kija Rangers conduct prescribed burning in the East Kimberley in 2019.
Photograph: Supplied/Kimberley Land Council

Indigenous fire practitioners have warned that Australia’s bush will regenerate as a “time bomb” prone to catastrophic blazes, and issued a plea to put to use traditional knowledge which is already working across the top end to reduce bushfires and greenhouse gas emissions.

“This is a time bomb ticking now because all that canopy has been wiped out,” says Oliver Costello of the national Indigenous Firesticks Alliance.

“A lot of areas will end up regenerating really strongly, but they’ll return in the wrong way. We’ll end up with the wrong species compositions and balance.

 “That’s why we need to get Indigenous fire practices out into the landscape in the coming months, to start to read the country and look at areas that need restoration burning in the short term.”

As Australia comes to terms with this season’s catastrophic fires, Indigenous practitioners like Costello are advocating a return to “cultural burning”.

What is cultural burning?

Small-scale burns at the right times of year and in the right places can minimise the risk of big wildfires in drier times, and are important for the health and regeneration of particular plants and animals.

Different species relate to fire in different ways, Costello explains. Wombats, for example, dig burrows to escape, while koalas climb into the canopy.

“When you understand the fire relationships they have, their own fire culture, then you are really applying the right fire for that culture so that you’re supporting the identity of that place.

“When you do that, you get more productive landscapes, you get healthier plants and animals, you get regeneration, you discourage invasive elements, which are sometimes native species that might belong in the system next door.

“It’s so important to apply that right fire for right country, so you can maintain the right balance.”

Aboriginal rangers and traditional owners conduct burns in the Katiti-Petermann
 Indigenous Protected Area, in the remote desert country near the Western
Australia and Northern Territory border. Photograph: Helen Davidson/The Guardian

Dr David Bowman is a professor of pyrogeography and fire science at the University of Tasmania. Bowman describes Indigenous fire management as “little fires tending the earth affectionately”.

“The affectional is the opposite of mechanical. It’s with emotion. So it can be reverence, affection, fear, a whole range of emotions, but it’s an emotional relationship you have with land using fire to create mosaics and flammable habitat mosaics, which are really good for biodiversity and a really good way of managing fuel load.”

Where is it used in Australia?

In northern Australia, Indigenous land ownership is widespread. Caring for country and ranger programs in protected areas has delivered a degree of autonomy to traditional owners to walk the country, burning according to seasonal need and cultural knowledge.

Indigenous fire management involves “cool” fires in targeted areas during the early dry season, between March and July. The fires burn slowly and in patches.

In the Kimberley, the Land council holds community fire planning meetings throughout the early dry season to ensure the correct people are burning their country.

“Traditional owners are consulted and native title holders design burn lines and fire walk routes,” the KLC acting CEO Tyronne Garstone says.

“These burn lines are approved by the group and Indigenous rangers perform the on-ground work, backed up by modern technology with rangers taking constant weather readings and recording the conditions of the day.

“They work very well at combining the old people’s fire practices with modern techniques.”

Even so, climate change is affecting their ability to do “right way” fire management, Garstone says.

“These ‘right way’ fire days are getting fewer and fire behaviour is changing along the same lines as over east. Late season conditions are also driving more fires in unusual ways due to the climatic conditions we are currently facing.”

Kija Rangers conduct prescribed or ‘cool’ burning in the East Kimberley
in the dry season, 2019. Photograph: Supplied/Kimberley Land Council

How effective is it?

The Darwin centre for bushfire research at Charles Darwin University maps bushfires weekly. Since traditional burning was reintroduced on a large scale, the centre has collected enough data to show that the area of land destroyed by wildfires has more than halved, from 26.5m hectares in 2000, to just 11.5m hectares in 2019.

“We have annual fires up here,” the centre’s research fellow Andrew Edwards says. “Forty per cent of the top end could burn every year. So we had to do something about that.”

“We were originally much more interested in biodiversity, Aboriginal employment and getting people back on country to manage it properly, but when the carbon economy came along we saw a way to manage fire to abate greenhouse gas emissions.

“It was pretty bad before that happened,” Edwards says. “It was just fires running wild across huge tracts of north Australia that nobody was doing anything about.”

Edwards says the top end cooperative model can be adapted to southern conditions.

“That’s what needs to be looked at. Obviously there’s a lot more infrastructure to set up, but it’s collaboration and education.

“If we want to manage our natural environment properly, we need to be doing prescribed burning. There’s so much cultural knowledge out there still, and it’s being totally ignored. There’s hundreds of Indigenous rangers out there now doing this work.”

The Oriners and Sefton Savannah Burning Project creates carbon credits, using
strict scientific methodologies, approved through a rigorous accreditation process
with the Department of Environment, to store carbon in the natural landscape.
Photograph: Richard Wainwright/Caritas Australia

Will these practices be widely adopted?

In southern Australia, Oliver Costello says, Aboriginal knowledge systems are far less valued but hold important solutions.

The Coag national bushfire management policy includes a commitment to “promote Indigenous Australians’ use of fire”, but Indigenous fire groups like Firesticks Alliance say they need more resources to build capacity.

“There are a lot of policy settings at a high level that support us, but there’s nothing in between. There’re no resources,” Costello says.

“There’s no investment really outside of northern Australia Indigenous fire management of any significance, and they had to build a whole new economy to support it through carbon.

“There’s always investment going into future firefighting capacity, more trucks, more helicopters, more this, more that. What we need is people getting out into the landscape now, with the knowledge to start to heal it.

A small cool burn managed by Indigenous firesticks alliance.
Photograph: Firesticks Alliance Indigenous Corporation/PA

Professor Bowman says it is possible to “blend Aboriginal with European and modern scientific approaches to create an opportunity for all land users and land owners”.

He suggests small-scale local “Green fire” groups modelled on the Landcare program.

“I would like to see a crossover between Indigenous and mainstream fire management groups, where there can be exchange and recognition.

“Because in the end there’s two things which are important to [remember]: all humans have come from a fire management background in their cultures, it’s just that some cultures ended up obliterating that knowledge because of industrialisation.

“We should really prioritise employment of Aboriginal people. But when there’s a gap we could be filling that gap with community groups. And there’s a really good opportunity for Aboriginal people to be involved in training.

“We need to encourage and promote the philosophy of Aboriginal fire practice because that’s going to be a really important pathway for sustainable fire management and also for healing because so many communities have been traumatised and shocked by the scale of the burning.”

Costello says the areas that haven’t burned this time around are now even more vulnerable.

“They are critical parts of the landscape [that need] to be able to support the animals and plants that have survived. And so those areas are going to be under increasing pressure and they’re also at risk of a future fire.

“There was an economy before settlement that supported this, a resource economy based on people looking after the land and having all that they needed.

“Now in the modern society it revolves around money. So we need to build economies that support cultural practice and acknowledge traditional custodianship.

“There’s all this canopy that’s been burnt away. We’ve got knowledge and techniques that can help heal that country in the future. It’s going to take some time. We’ve got probably two or three years before we can really be effective in some of that country because it needs to recover. But if we don’t get in there after that, then we miss our chance.”

The much welcomed rain in Australia might be too much of a good thing, as flash floods were reported in some area https://t.co/rNjVYeiU9T pic.twitter.com/Bgml3Yz50f

— AFP news agency (@AFP) January 18, 2020

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VVD give majority backing to ban on consumer fireworks in Amsterdam

DutchNews, January 9, 2020

New Year fireworks in Amsterdam. Photo: Depositphotos.com

There is majority support on Amsterdam city council for a total ban on the sale of fireworks to consumers, website Nu.nl reported on Thursday, ahead of a debate on the New Year celebrations. 

Two of the four ruling parties – GroenLinks and Labour – back a ban on consumer fireworks, and the VVD has now said it too favours such a move, the paper said. ‘We are dismayed by the problems that [fireworks] cause,’ local leader Marianne Poot said. ‘A small group of people are ruining it for the rest.’ 

On Wednesday, it emerged that there is majority support within Rotterdam council for an outright ban, and that there too the local VVD supports the plan. 

The national VVD has not yet voiced support for a ban, although parliamentary party leader Klaas Dijkhoff said on Tuesday he is not ‘deaf and blind’ to the problems the firework frenzy causes. 

There is, however, majority support in parliament for a ban on rockets and firecrackers. 

Two people died and almost 1,300 people were treated for firework-related injuries, according to public safety research group VeiligheidNL. Of them, 385 were helped at hospital accident and emergency departments. Police chiefs and safety experts have all called on parliament to get tough on fireworks or bring in a total ban.

In Amsterdam the damage to council property was put at some €500,000. Some 150 rubbish bins and 50 traffic signs were vandalised during the festivities and one children’s playground will require a €25,000 clean-up. 

Several underground rubbish containers were also set on fire and need to be replaced. 

This year Amsterdam did not hold a centralised firework display on the IJ waterway, saying most people preferred to celebrate in their own neighbourhoods.

Supreme court upholds Urgenda ruling, Dutch state must cut pollution

DutchNews, December 20, 2019

Photo: DutchNews.nl

The Dutch state is required to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to protect the health of its people, the Dutch Supreme Court said on Friday, ending a seven year legal process. 

The court said that the Dutch courts do have the power to determine if the government is meeting its obligations, as set down in the European treaty of human rights, which commits the state to protecting its citizens. 

The ruling, greeted by cheers from supporters, means that the government must now reduce greenhouse gas pollution by 25% by the end of next year, when compared with 1990, the court said. 

Friday’s ruling finalises an appeal court ruling from October 2018, in which the state was ordered to step up its efforts to combat pollution. Economic affairs minister Erik Wiebes said at the time that the Netherlands would comply with the ruling, even though it had ‘set democracy to one side’. 

Today’s Supreme Court case focused on the legal processes, rather than the actual merits of the case, and was brought by the government to establish if courts have the power to make such judgements. 

In October 2018, the appeal court ordered the Dutch state to step up efforts to cut CO2 emissions, despite the government’s claim that the issue should be left up to parliament. The court said the state had a ‘duty of care’ to protect its citizens from the impact of climate change. 

At the initial court case in 2015, judges ruled that the government is required it to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25% of 1990 levels by 2020, in line with international treaties. It was the first time a court had ruled that a national government was legally bound to follow through on promises made in international climate agreements. 

Failing 

Various researchers suggest the Netherlands is on course to reduce CO2 emissions by only 19% to 23% of 1990 levels by next year. 

The government must now decide what measures it should take to speed up the process. Potential solutions include closing coal-fired power stations sooner than planned. The speed limit on motorways is already being reduced next year to reduce pollution following another court case. 

The Urgenda case was started in 2012 by a group of some 900 individuals who said they would take the government to court unless it started acting seriously to prevent climate change. 

Founder Marjan Minnesma said after the ruling that she is extremely happy. ‘We have put together a plan for the government with 50 measures that they could take to still make the 25% reduction,’ she said.

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Minister relaxes rules for PFAS pollution following builders’ protest

DutchNews, November 29, 2019 

Work on building a new underground bike park in Amsterdam. Photo: DutchNews.nl 

The government is to be more flexible about the levels of toxic PFAS in soil, allowing builders and dredging companies to get on with their jobs after all, junior infrastructure minister Stientje van Veldhoven has told MPs. 

The tough limit introduced in July has helped create chaos in the construction sector, with hundreds of projects being put on hold because moving polluted soil would be breaking the rules. 

PFAS are toxic chemicals used in a wide range of manufacturing processes, from pizza boxed to non-stick frying pans, and which do not break down naturally. Linked to several types of cancer and other health problems, they are found in water, in soil, plants and wildlife. 

The ministry’s change of heart follows a mass protest by the construction sector in The Hague earlier this month. 

The new rules, which have been approved by the public health institute RIVM, will come into effect nationwide, the minister said. The limit for PFAS in soil will now go up from the July limit of 0.1 microgrammes per kilo to 0.8 microgrammes.

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Wadden container disaster – a quarter of the cargo is still at sea

DutchNews, November 27, 2019 

Photo: Coastguard

Some 800 tonnes of freight which fell overboard from a container ship in the Wadden Sea during bad weather in January has still not been recovered, infrastructure minister Cora van Nieuwenhuizen has told MPs. 

The MSC Zoe lost 342 containers of goods, leading to a massive clean-up operation as plastic, toys and machinery were washed up on the shores of the Wadden Islands. 

In total, 299 containers have been salvaged at a cost of €35m so far, with the ship’s owner picking up the bill. 

The minister said  further efforts to use boats and divers to recover the goods would be pointless because the items have been spread over such a large area. Each search costs 2.5 litres of diesel for every kilo of recovered waste, the minister said in her briefing. 

The MSC Zoe is one of the biggest freighters in the world and can carry 19,000 containers in total. It was heading from Portugal to Bremerhaven in Germany when the containers came loose in high seas. 

The beach clean-up operation will last until mid 2020 and beyond if necessary, the minister said. 

The coastline of the Wadden island of Schiermonnikoog, for example, remains polluted with plastic beading, and new waste continues to wash up every day.

Dutch space technology ‘game changer’ for pollution detection

DutchNews, November 22, 2019

Photo: Depositphotos.com

In a scientific first, Dutch and North-American scientists have detected a large source of methane pollution using space technology. 

The satellite-borne TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI), which was developed in the Netherlands, was launched on 13 October 2017 and does world-wide sweeps of the planet in search of greenhouse emissions. 

The source of the harmful greenhouse gas turned out to be an oil and gas installation in Turkmenistan in Central Asia. After the leak was reported to the company subsequent satellite images confirmed that the leak had been dealt with. 

Physics professor Ilse Aben from the Dutch institute for space research SRON, which was involved in the research, told public broadcaster NOS the leak was discovered ‘more or less by accident’.  It was flagged up at the beginning of this year by Canadian and American colleagues and who were doing methane measurements related to volcanic activity. 

‘Their measurements are limited to smaller areas while Tropomi covers the whole planet. However, they can zoom in more and on detecting a number of methane sources they contacted us to see if we could spot them too. And we could,’ Aben told the broadcaster. 

Pieternel Levelt, head of satellite detection at project leader KNMI, called the event ‘a game changer’. ‘The fact that we can detect this sort of methane leaks all over the world is very important for the climate. The instrument is having a huge impact.’ 

Tropomi, and others like it, will in future be used not only for the detection of individual sources of methane but also to check whether countries and businesses are complying with international climate protection agreements. 

‘The European Union is currently working with the European Space Agency (ESA) on new satellites which are going to measure CO2 levels from space in a few years’ time,’ Levelt said. 

CO2 is largely responsible for the warming up of the planet but methane contributes about a third of harmful gases. The most common sources for methane are cattle breeding, the oil and gas industry and coal mines.

Daytime speed limit to be slashed to 100 kph to cut pollution: NOS

DutchNews, November 12, 2019 

Photo: Wikimedia Commons 

The cabinet is planning to cut the maximum speed limit to 100 kph nationwide between 6am and 7pm, in an effort to cut nitrogen-based pollution, sources have told broadcaster NOS.

 Higher speed limits of 120 kph and 130 kph would be allowed at night – on roads which currently have the higher speed limit, ministers are set to announce Wednesday. 

Ministers hope that cutting the speed limit will compensate for the extra pollution generated by the construction industry – particularly of new homes. A large number of building projects have been put on hold after the Council of State ruled current measures to reduce nitrous oxide and ammonia pollution are insufficient. 

Prime minister Mark Rutte has declined to confirm the speed limit cut, but says he aims to present the package of measures on Wednesday morning. 

Also on the table is a plan to add enzymes to cattle feed so they produce less ammonia in their manure, NOS said.

Ministers outline the government’s plans. Photo: Phil Nijhuis / HH

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Builders’ pollution protest breaks up, after diggers dump earth on the Malieveld

DutchNews, October 30, 2019 

Photo: Ramon van Flymen / Hollandse-Hoogte

Builders protesting about government measures to combat nitrogen and PFAS pollution dumped tonnes of sand on the Malieveld in The Hague on Wednesday but the main demonstration passed off largely without problems. 

The construction workers began leaving the area early on Wednesday afternoon after listening to speeches by industry leaders and ministers. 

Thousands of projects have been halted after the Council of State ruled that more needed to be done to combat nitrogen-based pollution. In addition, the compensation scheme set up to head off the impact of nitrogen-based pollution was ineffective, the country’s highest administrative court said. 

Earlier on Wedneday it emerged that some rules are being relaxed and that work on smaller projects can resume. Nevertheless, farm minister Carola Schouten faced whistles and jeers when she addressed the crowd and told them the country did not have to come to a standstill. 

Junior environment minister Stientje van Veldhoven too told the crowd the government is doing all it can to break the deadlock. As the crowd chanted ‘now, now’, Van Veldhoven said: ‘Best of all now, I agree with that. No-one benefits from the delays.’ 

Hans de Boer, leader of employers organisation VNO-NCO said that the chairman of an industry body had never before gone on strike. ‘I am proud of you and what you have achieved,’ he told his audience ‘We have one of the best economies in Europe and one of the best countries to live in. 

‘So what is going on: people in politics are no longer listening to the people who work. People in politics, do not forget that we earn the money, we create the jobs and we take care of the tax receipts. You have to listen to us.’ 

Jobs 

According to national statistics office CBS, the construction sector generates some 5% of Dutch GDP and creates 6% of jobs. It is also three times as important to the economy as farming. 

Ministers have pledged to come up with a new package of measures by December 1 so building work can resume on some projects. And on Tuesday, it emerged that the tough rules for dumping soil and sludge polluted by PFAS, a toxic chemical, may also be relaxed. 

The coalition parties in parliament have also said they will back a programme to allow building workers who have no work on because of the crisis to claim part-time unemployment benefits. 

Last week angry farmers held a larger demonstration in The Hague, saying they are bearing the brunt of government efforts to cut pollution.

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