There again appears to be an error in a RIVM list with the top 100 companies that emit the most ammonia, the so-called peak loaders. Nitrogen minister Christianne van der Wal is ‘very disappointed’ and wants RIVM to ‘have the systems tested externally’.
In April, it was revealed that RIVM had made a coding error in the list. This time, the error ‘relates to the emissions allocated to various pig and poultry houses’, the minister wrote to the House. The impact of this last error is not yet known. More information about that will become clear later this month.
“This is not the first time that the information provided by RIVM has to be corrected at a later date. As a minister, I must be able to rely on the information that I receive from an independent scientific knowledge institute such as RIVM. This confidence proved to be true in this case. unjustly,” says Van der Wal.
‘Very deplorable’
Due to the error, companies were incorrectly included on the list. “Very regrettable,” said the minister. She asks the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport to ensure that the RIVM systems are examined by an external party.
Sjaak van der Tak, chairman of LTO Nederland, calls the new error ’embarrassing’. He also indicates that it is an error ‘with consequences’. According to him, the state of affairs shows that the use of generic models for the approach of individual entrepreneurs is unsuitable. According to Van der Tak, this has often been criticized.
RIVM ‘deplores the confusion’ that has arisen among agricultural companies as a result of the error. This came to light after the underlying data of the list had been requested via the Open Government Act (Woo). “Agricultural companies have asked RIVM critical questions about this list on the basis of the Woo”, the RIVM indicates. This revealed that incorrect emission factors had been used.
Debate on edge
In the meantime, put lAgriculture minister Piet Adema sharpened the nitrogen debate by again raising questions about the 2030 nitrogen deadline. According to him, this could also be done a few years later in areas where nature has already recovered well, reports Trouw Wednesday. The cabinet was still in dire straits last summer when CDA leader and Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra said that 2030 was ‘not sacred’ to him.
Nitrogen mediator Johan Remkes solved this in his advice by sticking to 2030 for the halving of emissions ‘for the time being’, with two measurement moments in 2025 and 2028. The date can then be shifted in the meantime. According to Adema, Remkes has ‘greatly nuanced the deadline’. “The condition remains that nature must recover,” says the minister. Adema made his statements at a meeting with farmers in Drachten, Friesland.