News item | 25-04-2025 | 15:30
The cabinet presents a starter package to get the Netherlands off the lock. For example, the government wants to introduce the arithmetic lower limit, present a new permit system and a regional approach around the Veluwe and the Peel is started. In a letter to the House of Representatives, the government announces the plans for all sectors, as a basis for getting the permits back on track. To start immediately, the plans contain a starter package with, among other things, an extensification scheme, voluntary termination and target management. € 2.2 billion is released for this.
Minister Wiersma: “We have to start the granting of permits again. For me, realistic, feasible and sustainable plans are paramount, so that we can offer entrepreneurs the certainty they deserve. At the same time, I realize that we are going to ask a lot of entrepreneurs. It is good that we can start with the first measures and that there is a basis for building on, along with involved parties.”
Measures to build on
The current permit system is no longer sustainable. Even more sustainability gets stuck, and recreational activities such as hiking trips are troubled. That is why the government wants to present a new permit system after the summer that is based on a better insight into the state of nature and all accompanying printing factors. The cabinet is also looking for the recurrence of Natura 2000 areas for the longer term.
In addition to adjustments in laws and regulations, nitrogen reduction is also required. In 2035, the government wants to realize an emission reduction of 50% (industry, mobility and construction) and 42-46% (agriculture) compared to 2019. To achieve this, measures have been established on which the government will build on in the coming weeks. All sectors contribute to this. For example, the cabinet wants to focus on, among other things, further sustainability of waste incineration installations and intensifying peak load industry. For agriculture, the government focuses on target management, natural course and extra use of resources around certain Natura 2000 areas, such as with agricultural nature and landscape management. And for mobility and construction, the government is thinking of making inland shipping and rail freight transport more sustainable in the port of Rotterdam, making road traffic more sustainable and area-oriented route controls around nitrogen-sensitive Natura 2000 areas.
Starter package
Many steps have been taken in recent years to reduce nitrogen and restore nature, but there is no structural solution. Two judgments underline the urgency. That is why the Cabinet focuses on a scientifically substantiated arithmetic lower limit in the short term, improving the nature target analyzes and there will be a proposal around the summer to adjust the legal environmental values to emissions goals.
Given the urgency, the government comes with a starter package. For this, € 1.6 billion is released (from the reserved resources from the Outline Agreement), in addition to the € 600 million that was released in the Spring Memorandum. Moreover, € 213 million is also being released structurally. From this starting amount of € 2.2 billion, € 200 million is made available to further develop target control. In addition, we are working on a voluntary extensification scheme for dairy farming in order to relieve the manure market and achieve climate and ammonia goals. € 627 million is available for this. There will also be a voluntary termination scheme for farmers who want to stop, for example because they do not have a business succession. € 750 million is available for this scheme. To make nature recovery possible, € 100 million extra is being pulled out.
In addition to these general measures, the government will work in the areas where the need is the highest. They start in the Veluwe and in the Peel – areas with the most urgent assignment. In the Spring Memorandum, the cabinet released € 600 million for this. The interpretation of this money is worked out in consultation with the provinces.