The new coalition of the province of Gelderland – BBB, VVD, CDA, ChristenUnie and SGP – will not cooperate in a forced buyout of farmers. This is stated in the coalition agreement of the newly formed provincial government, presented on Wednesday. The province’s target date for halving fuel emissions will also be 2035, while the cabinet sees 2030 as the ultimate deadline.
Gelderland has a large number of protected nature areas (so-called Natura2000), including the Veluwe. Also, about 60 percent of all peak loaders – major nitrogen emitters – are located in this province, including 566 dairy farms and 558 pig farms.
The Decree therefore has a significant impact on national nitrogen policy because the Cabinet has set aside an important role for the provinces in the implementation of the nitrogen agreements. With its resistance to the forced buy-out, the province of Gelderland opposes the government’s possible extreme measure to reduce nitrogen emissions.
The agreement states that ‘all sectors’ must contribute to the reduction of nitrogen emissions. Construction, industry, agriculture and mobility, including aviation, are all mentioned. According to the coalition, this is “an accelerator
for innovation and sustainability in those sectors”. The agreement emphasizes that the coalition wants to look at “what is possible instead of what is not possible”.