News item | 12-06-2025 | 14:45
Ineke Dezentjé Hamming-Bluemink has been appointed as the new chairman of the Custom Agreements Advisory Committee Making Sustainable Industry. Dezentjé Hamming-Bluemink was previously chairman of employers’ organization FME and between 2003 and 2011 MP for the VVD. She succeeds Carolien Gehrels in this role.
Ineke Dezentjé Hamming-Bluemink will give advice with the Commission or proposed agreements between the government and companies in order to be further elaborated in concrete binding custom agreements.
2 new committee members
In addition to the appointment of the new chairman, 2 new committee members will take: Gerard van Harten and Els de Groot. Van Harten was previously the figurehead of the top sector chemistry and chairman of the board at Dow Benelux. De Groot is currently working as a commissioner at Enexis and has been acting as an independent expert for the committee in recent years. The members Tanja Cuppen, Pieter Boot and Laurens de Vries have been reappointed in the committee.
In addition to Carolien Gehrels, the committee also says goodbye to Tom Büchner as a member. Over the past 2 years, they have worked in their role within the customized approach for accelerating sustainability at large industrial companies.
Independent advice agreements between governments and companies
This committee issues independent advice on intended customized agreements between the government and large industrial companies aimed at ambitious CO2 reduction and improvement of the living environment. In June 2023, the Commission issued an opinion on the intention agreement (Joint Letter of Intent, Jloi) of the government with Nobian and in October 2023 on the incidental grant application from Yara Sluiskil. Binding customized agreements have been made with Nobian. The advisory committee assesses Jlois, after which the agreements are further elaborated in a legally binding customization appointment. The committee assesses, among other things, whether plans are efficient, feasible, measurable and in line with the goals of the customized approach.
With the appointment of Dezentjé Hamming-Bluemink as chairman and the (re) appointment of the other members in the committee, there is sufficient expertise to advise on the complex customized trajectories in the coming period, with an eye for ambition and feasibility.
Customized approach
With the customized approach, companies are supported in their sustainability tasks. To be eligible for customized agreements, a company must be able to reduce a lot of CO2 emissions. Namely in 2030 more than the Reduction Path of the National CO2 levy. We also call this additional CO2 reduction. The approach in a nutshell:
- In the first place aimed at reducing CO2 emissions at the largest industrial companies
- In addition, agreements are also made about a healthy and safe living environment, if possible.
- Reciprocity is the starting point. The more sustainability tasks require efforts from the companies and the government.
- The approach has 3 phases: Expressions of Principles, Joint Letter of Intent, binding customized agreements.