News item | 01-06-2022 | 15:30
With the new plans of Minister De Jonge for Housing and Spatial Planning, a sustainable home should be within reach for everyone. To achieve this, various measures are taken. This includes tackling all poorly insulated homes and buildings before 2030. The cabinet pays special attention to people with a small wallet. New financing options also make it possible for them to affordably insulate their homes.
Minister De Jonge: ‘The ambition is to make sustainable homes possible for everyone. This is good for the climate, prevents high energy bills and makes us less dependent on natural gas. We do this by helping people get started on how to insulate their home and by removing financial barriers. After all, a sustainable home must be affordable for everyone. We want to prevent people from being unnecessarily put at high costs.’
Saving energy and making heat supply more sustainable
To reduce energy demand, the cabinet has launched the National Insulation Programme. The goal is to insulate 2.5 million homes up to and including 2030. In addition, the goal is to install 1 million hybrid heat pumps in existing buildings by 2030. There will also be a blending obligation for green gas.
Affordable for everyone
These plans require substantial investments from governments, institutions, companies and people. Everyone should be able to participate in this. Also people with a small wallet and small companies and institutions. That is why the cabinet is improving the conditions for participating through attractive energy-saving loans and mortgages via the heat fund. These are also for people who cannot borrow or can only borrow to a limited extent, so that they still receive money to make their home more sustainable without paying too much or being left with a residual debt. People with lower incomes can borrow at a 0% interest rate. In addition, the subsidies have been increased and it will be possible to receive a subsidy for one insulation measure.
New standards for making the built environment more sustainable
Standards will be set for making rental homes, utility buildings and heating installations more sustainable. This gives building owners clarity about which steps must be taken and when and they can include this in their considerations when investing in a home or taking out a loan or mortgage. For example, the cabinet wants to phase out poorly insulated homes, poor energy performance in non-residential buildings and the mono central heating boiler.
In order to legally guarantee that all poorly insulated rental homes are improved, legal requirements will be imposed on the rental of housing association homes and private rental homes from 1 January 2030. Non-residential buildings with poor energy labels (E, F and G) are also being tackled. From 2026, the hybrid heat pump will become the new standard. This means that when the central heating installations are replaced, people have to switch to an installation that uses less or no natural gas, provided the home is suitable for this.
Increasing implementation capacity of municipalities and the market
The cabinet will compensate municipalities and provinces for their implementation costs. There will be a national program to support the local heat transition and a clear legal framework. In addition to the new Heat Act, work is being done on the Municipal Instruments for the Heat Transition Act.
Finally, the cabinet wants more innovative and sustainable construction and renovation. By helping construction to reduce costs, increase productivity and thus make sustainability more efficient. To make this possible, the cabinet encourages innovative construction methods and techniques and better cooperation within the sector. In addition, construction will also have to work in a more nature-inclusive, emission-free and circular manner.