The National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) apologized on Thursday for errors in the list of the largest nitrogen emitters. In the House of Representatives said Charles Wijnker, Director of Environment and Safety at RIVM, finds the mistakes made ‘painful’. He calls it “a scratch on the RIVM’s reputation as a knowledge institute”. RIVM was invited by the House of Representatives to explain the mistakes made.
Earlier this week it was announced that a calculation error had been made in the assessment of nitrogen emissions from pig and poultry houses. As a result, there were incorrect data in the list of the top 100 peak loaders. It was not the first time that RIVM made mistakes: things also went wrong in April. Then, due to a coding error, companies that emitted little nitrogen were added to the list.
MPs are critical of the latest error. They think it is bad for trust in RIVM. MP Derk Boswijk (CDA) stated that there is a lot of fake news about nitrogen. He therefore considers the fact that RIVM makes mistakes serious: “If I can no longer rely on RIVM, where are we?”