Another mistake has been made in RIVM’s list of the largest nitrogen emitters in the Netherlands. That is what Minister Christianne van der Wal (Nature and Nitrogen, VVD) has Tuesday evening announced to the House of Representatives. In April, the list of the top 100 peak loaders also contained incorrect data. This time a calculation error was made in the assessment of pig and poultry houses.
The mistake was made by the RIVM, according to Van der Wal, who writes “very disappointed”. “It should not be the case that your company is classified as one of the largest ammonia emitters in this country, while the calculations are incorrect and it is therefore impossible to determine whether these companies are rightly on the list.” Van der Wal wants an external party to carry out an evaluation “of the quality-monitoring processes within RIVM” and has asked the Ministry of Health to make this possible.
The mistake was also made in April by the RIVM. At the time, it concerned a coding error, in which the national institute “incorrectly” swapped the code used for less clean barn types with that of nitrogen emission-reducing barns. As a result, companies that emitted little nitrogen were nevertheless included on the list.