This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 689289.
ClairCity: Citizen-led air pollution reduction in cities
D6.1 Air Quality and Climate Related Policies in Amsterdam – Baseline Analysis Rotterdam, March 2017
ClairCity: Citizen-led air pollution reduction in cities
D6.1 Air Quality and Climate Related Policies in Amsterdam – Baseline Analysis Rotterdam, February 2017
ClairCity: Citizen-led air pollution reduction in cities
D6.1 Air Quality and Climate Related
Document Details Authors Stephan Slingerland
Irati Artola
Katarina Svatikova
Creation Date 1 July 2016
Date of Last Revision 20 January 2017
Version 3
Description D6.1 Amsterdam Policy Baseline Analysis Report
Contributions and Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank the following people for their important contributions used in the preparation of this final document.
City Contact Imke van Moorselaar (GGD Amsterdam)
Quality Assurance
Hans Bolscher (Project Director), Enda Hayes (Project Technical Director)
Native Language Check
Matthew Smith (Trinomics)
Project internal comments
All WP6 members and WP leaders, and in particular Trond Husby (PBL), Myriam Lopes (UA), Joana Leitão (UA), Eva Czobod (REC), Peter Szuppinger (REC), Carlo Trozzi (Techne), Tim Chatterton (UWE) and Svein Knudsen (NILU).
External comments
All anonymous external interview respondents, and in addition Marita Voogt and Hester Volten (RIVM), Tina Tellegen (Amsterdam Economic Board) and Manu Hartsuyker (Amsterdam citizen).
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 689289.
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Contents
Policy Maker Summary .......................................................................................................... 8
Objectives of the report ...................................................................................................... 8
Contextual factors influencing air quality, greenhouse gas emissions and citizen practices in Amsterdam ..................................................................................................................... 8
Influence of international, European and national policies on Amsterdam air quality and climate change policy making ...........................................................................................10
Amsterdam policies and the role of citizens and other stakeholders in these policies .......12
1. Introduction ...................................................................................................................15
1.1. Objective ................................................................................................................16
1.2. Scope .....................................................................................................................17
1.3. Method ...................................................................................................................18
1.4. Outline ....................................................................................................................20
2. Amsterdam: Key Characteristics ...................................................................................21
2.1. Geography .............................................................................................................21
2.2. Economy ................................................................................................................22
2.3. Population ..............................................................................................................23
2.4. Governance............................................................................................................23
2.5. Energy ....................................................................................................................24
2.6. Transport ................................................................................................................25
2.7. Discussion ..............................................................................................................25
3. International and National Air Quality & Climate Change Policies Relevant for Amsterdam ...........................................................................................................................26
3.1. International and European policy context ..............................................................26
Air quality ......................................................................................................................27
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Climate Change.............................................................................................................30
3.2. Emission trends in the Netherlands ........................................................................31
Air quality pollutant emission trends ..............................................................................31
Greenhouse gas emission trends ..................................................................................32
3.3. Governance of air quality and climate change in the Netherlands ..........................34
3.4. Air quality and climate change policies in the Netherlands .....................................35
Air quality ......................................................................................................................36
Climate change .............................................................................................................39
3.5. Discussion ..............................................................................................................42
4. Air quality and climate change policies in Amsterdam ...................................................43
4.1. Pollutant concentration and emission trends in Amsterdam ....................................43
Air quality concentration trends .....................................................................................43
Greenhouse gas emission trends ..................................................................................46
4.2. Governance of air quality and climate change in Amsterdam .................................48
4.3. Air quality and climate change policies in Amsterdam ............................................50
Energy ...........................................................................................................................52
Transport .......................................................................................................................53
Regional Cooperation ....................................................................................................55
4.4. Citizen and stakeholder initiatives in Amsterdam ....................................................56
Business and citizens ....................................................................................................59
NGOs and citizens ........................................................................................................59
4.5. Discussion ..............................................................................................................60
5. Conclusions ...................................................................................................................61
5.1. Citizen- inclusive Amsterdam policies ....................................................................61
The role of citizens in policy making in Amsterdam .......................................................62
Leeway of Amsterdam policy makers ............................................................................64
General success and fail factors of Amsterdam policies ................................................64
Policy successes ...........................................................................................................65
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Policy challenges ...........................................................................................................65
5.2. Further work in ClairCity .........................................................................................67
Social science ...............................................................................................................67
Citizen engagement activities ........................................................................................67
The app .........................................................................................................................67
The game ......................................................................................................................68
The scenarios ................................................................................................................68
The policy package .......................................................................................................68
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Policy Maker Summary This report is part of the ClairCity (‘Citizen-led air pollution reduction in cities’) project, funded by the European Union under the Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme. The aim of ClairCity is to contribute to more effective citizen engagement with air quality and climate change policies and actions in cities, with the aim of improving the wellbeing and health of urban citizens in the future in Europe and globally.
Objectives of the report The report provides a baseline analysis of current air quality and climate change policies in Amsterdam and their relation to citizens. The report analyses in more detail:
• The contextual factors influencing air quality, greenhouse gas emissions and citizen practices in Amsterdam;
• The influence of global, European and national policies on Amsterdam policy making; • The local policies of Amsterdam and the role of citizens and other stakeholders in
these policies.
Contextual factors influencing air quality, greenhouse gas emissions and citizen practices in Amsterdam The context of Amsterdam air quality and climate change policies related to citizens consists on one hand of various emissions sources, and on the other hand a variety of factors that set preconditions or limits to the behavioural practices of Amsterdam citizens.
Concentration and emission context Concentrations of air polluting substances in Amsterdam are the result of regional background concentrations (determined by European, national and regional emissions outside the city), of urban background concentrations (mainly determined by transport and energy emissions) and of emission peaks at certain hotspots in the city (roads). The main sources contributing to background concentrations of air pollution in Amsterdam are road traffic, other traffic (including air traffic), international shipping, foreign sources and sea salt/dust (Figure 1). Regarding CO2 emissions, the main sectors contributing to emissions are the built environment, transport, industry and energy, and agriculture (Figure 2).
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Figure 1: Concentrations of air pollutants in the Amsterdam region in 2015 (g m-3)1
Figure 2: CO2 emissions and trends in the Netherlands 1990-20142
Behavioural context ClairCity focuses on the transport and energy related behaviour of citizens and how this contributes to air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions (e.g. through heating, cooking, lighting, commuting, driving, etc.). It examines the policies that are directly or indirectly - through other actors or infrastructural measures - influencing the behavioural practices of citizens. In doing so it takes into account the following characteristics of Amsterdam, that set a context for the energy and transport related practices of its citizens:
• Geography: situated in north-western Europe, Amsterdam has a maritime climate and predominantly south-western winds. Whereas the latter influences background concentrations of air pollutants in the city, the former has an impact on heating practices of citizens. Also, Amsterdam as a flat city provides perfect preconditions for cycling.
1 RIVM (2016). Grootschalige concentratie- en depositiekaarten Nederland: Rapportage 2016, Bilthoven 2 Compendium voor de leefomgeving, adapted from CBS, PBL, Wageningen UR (2016). Emissies broeikasgassen 1990-2014
012345678
NO2
PM10
PM2,5
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• Economy: Amsterdam is an economic hub for the surrounding region. With more than 800 000 inhabitants and 1.4 million people working in the city, commuting into the city from the wider region is common. Amsterdam has the 5th largest harbour of Europe and a large international airport, both contributing to emissions.
• Population; the Amsterdam population is very heterogeneous, with more than half of the Amsterdam inhabitants having a foreign origin. Income levels and cultural backgrounds also vary substantially between neighbourhoods and between individual households. As such, there can be large differences in energy and transport behavioural practices of its citizens.
• Governance; Amsterdam is governed by a City Council that can set energy and transport policy targets and measures relatively autonomously within the boundaries defined by national and provincial legislation. The behavioural practices of Amsterdam citizens are therefore directly and indirectly influenced by Amsterdam city policies. Air quality and greenhouse emissions have been high on the political agenda in the last decade.
Furthermore, existing infrastructure and culture influence the energy and transport behaviour of Amsterdam citizens.
Regarding energy, the Netherlands is highly dependent on its large domestic gas reserves. Space heating is therefore predominantly gas based, and district-heating traditionally plays a small role. With the end of the Dutch gas reserves nearing, the country is currently involved in a lively public debate about possible alternatives. Amsterdam has announced plans for becoming a gas-free city, and wants to strongly expand the small local district heating network to achieve that. However, public resistance to district heating in the Netherlands is substantial, because of the limits it sets to the free choice of energy provider, and because it interferes with ingrained public practices such as cooking with gas.
For transport, an extensive public transport network exists within and around the city, consisting of metro, trams, buses and trains. Amsterdam citizens therefore travel on average as many kilometres by public transport as by car. Cycling is also ingrained in Dutch and Amsterdam culture, and a good cycling infrastructure contributes to more people having a bike than a driver’s license in the city.
Influence of international, European and national policies on Amsterdam air quality and climate change policy making Amsterdam policies operate within the framework of global, European, national and provincial policies. These set the room for manoeuvre of Amsterdam policies.
On a global level, the guideline values for air quality of the World Health Organisation are cited in Amsterdam policy documents as a motivation for setting ambitious goals. The 2015 Paris Climate Agreement is also quoted in Amsterdam policies, but climate policy goals are less prominently communicated than air quality, energy and transport policies – that are considered to be closer to everyday citizens’ practices.
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At European level, EU standards have played an important role in national target setting of air quality policies. The Dutch derogation request for meeting air quality targets in the early 2000s suggests that national air quality policies would have been less ambitious without the obligation to meet EU targets. EU – rather than Dutch – standards are also often referred to in local policy documents in Amsterdam. Regarding climate change, Dutch national targets were initially more ambitious than EU targets. However, the current government only aims to implement the EU targets rather than going beyond these.
At national level, there are several regulations that set the boundaries of Amsterdam policymaking by determining minimum air quality standards to be met. For the most part these closely follow EU standards, without imposing additional limits. A national policy important for Amsterdam is the Decision on Sensitive Locations setting air quality standards for new infrastructure projects near to schools and elderly residences. Amsterdam is the only city in the Netherlands that has chosen for a stricter interpretation of this Decision, applying it also to inner city roads. In the field of climate change, a National Climate Agenda translated into a Local Climate Action Plan for municipalities, an ‘Energy Agreement’ between government, business and NGOs, and ‘Green Deals’ to support private action are important.
At the provincial and regional levels, spatial planning policies of the province have in recent years obstructed local plans for siting of wind turbines within the city borders. Regional cooperation in the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area on the other hand helps to coordinate policies between municipalities.
National policy issues and debates on air quality and climate
In recent years, national discussions relevant to air quality policy have included: the issue of new infrastructure projects being restricted by European regulations leading to a derogation request and stricter Dutch air quality legislation; a debate on the importance of 80-km limits on highways near cities; and, a discussion on how to deal with differences between air quality modelling and measurements. For climate, the national debate in recent years has focused on the energy sector, and more specifically on the future of gas and the closure of all coal power plants in the Netherlands. Amsterdam wants to be a frontrunner in this discussion, announcing a gas-free city target by 2050. Relevant national trends in recent years include the rise of local energy cooperatives, with citizens selling their locally produced renewable energy commercially, and the successes through legal action of NGOs together with citizens, to hold the national government responsible in lawsuits for not meeting European air quality standards and climate change policies.
In recent years the framing and communication of air quality policies at national level has focused on health as an issue. However, whereas premature deaths and sick leave as a result of air quality are now often communicated by policy makers, this has not yet become an issue of major public debate or concern. National climate policies are framed for their relevance to achieving the targets of the Paris Climate Agreement, which is often seen as a
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‘tipping point’ in climate policies for its legal implications. Locally, however, Amsterdam stresses energy and transport measures as concrete measures rather than focusing on abstract communication on emission reduction targets.
Amsterdam policies and the role of citizens and other stakeholders in these policies
Current emissions
Decreasing emissions and concentration levels point to some successes of Amsterdam air quality and climate change policies in recent years. For particulate matter (PM), the European standards are clearly met in the city (although values measured still exceed the WHO guidelines), although NO2 concentrations at some hotspots still exceed the EU limit values. Total CO2 emissions have remained almost constant over the period 2011 – 2015, whereas CO2 emissions per capita have somewhat decreased (Table 1) as the city population has grown faster than emissions.
Table 1: Concentrations and emissions of air pollutants and CO2 in Amsterdam
Unit 2011 2015 EU standard WHO
guideline PM2.5 g m-3 19 - 24 14 - 20 40 20
PM10 g m-3 17 - 21 11 - 16 25 10
NO2 g m-3 48 - 62 38 - 49 40 40
Soot g m-3 125* 103 n/a n/a
CO2 kt/year 4429 4471 n/a n/a
CO2/capita t/year 5.7 5.4 n/a n/a
* in 2012
Policy targets
Amsterdam air quality and climate policies are integrated in a broader Sustainability Agenda. The key targets of this Agenda are:
• Renewable energy – 20% more renewable energy and 20% less energy use per citizen in 2020 compared to 2013;
• Clean and healthy air – 30% less soot emissions and 35% less NO2 emissions in 2025 compared to 2015 as a result of smart and clean traffic;
• Circular economy – Waste is a source of new products and materials, 65% of waste will be recycled in 2020;
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• Climate-proof city – Spatial and infrastructural planning in Amsterdam takes into account the effects of climate change;
• Sustainable municipality – Public procurement of the municipality takes into account all sustainability targets of the Agenda.
For energy and transport, the general goals have been translated into several more specific targets (Table 2).
Table 2: Specific Amsterdam targets related to Energy and transport
Targeted sector Measures and targets
Energy - 1 000 zero energy houses - Local electricity generation from PV panels up from 5 000 to 80 000
households - Locally produced wind energy provided to at least 12 000
households - 75% of new constructions energy neutral by 2020 - Social housing upgrade to at least Energy Level B - 102 000 district heating connections by 2020 (currently 63 000) - Stimulate energy efficient renovations of the existing building stock
between 2015 to 2025 - Between 2012 and 2025, the municipality’s CO2 emissions will be
reduced by 45 per cent - A gas free city in 2050 - Expand electricity generation through offshore wind farms
Transport - Environmental or low-emission zones for transport (‘milieuzones’) - Emission-free public transport by 2025 - Emission-free municipal vehicle fleet by 2025 - 4 000 public charging stations for electric vehicles by 2018 - 2 additional cargo/freight hubs - A ‘Cleaner Parking Plan’
City policies in Amsterdam are clearly aiming to be more ambitious than those on a national level. Framing and communication of local air quality and climate change policies is based on a liberal policy frame, strongly stressing the own responsibility of companies and citizens. The municipality itself adopts a primarily supporting role. Awareness raising is not a key focus of policy making, as the assumption is that citizens are already sufficiently aware of air quality and climate related problems. No specific groups of citizens are addressed with such measures, except, to some extent, the ‘energy poor’.
Citizens and businesses in Amsterdam are regarded by policy makers as actors that have to pull the ambitions of air quality and carbon policies. Many public-private cooperation
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projects in these fields have started in recent years, often aided by financial or organisational support from the municipality. Key citizen initiatives that have arisen without initial municipal support are local air quality measurements by citizens (‘citizen science’ - initiated by an NGO) and local energy cooperatives selling renewable energy generated to the grid. Current policies are directed at stimulating positive citizens’ practices directly (e.g. offering subsidies) or indirectly (e.g. by providing infrastructure), sometimes with a restrictive character (e.g. the ‘environmental zones’, which restrict certain categories of transport vehicles from entering the city centre).
The ‘environmental zones’ noted above are an example of good practice in Amsterdam city policy that could serve as an example for other cities. Other examples include: the creation of a local sustainability fund from the revenues of privatising the local energy company and the use of a detailed local measurement network to support policy making (instruments); a strict local interpretation of the Decision on Sensitive Locations (legislation); and policy measures to stimulate cycling and electric vehicles (infrastructure). Also, the courage to set targets that go beyond national goals and the continuity in maintaining these targets over several different council administrations could be interesting in this respect.
The challenges identified for future policy in Amsterdam are in finding solutions for site-specific air quality hotspots in Amsterdam, connecting policies even better to the everyday concerns of citizens and designing permanently adaptive air quality standards, targeting continual improvement and the minimisation of the health impacts of air pollutants to citizens over a longer period of time.
Finally, the Amsterdam policy analysis has led to several recommendations and ideas for further research in the ClairCity project itself. One particular preliminary finding that will be investigated further is that awareness raising should be accompanied by tools for citizens to interact with policy making and society on a larger scale.
Two initial ideas for policy tools that could strengthen this interaction are:
• Citizen Measurements and Policy Action (a Tool for Policy-makers): the tool will address how to integrate citizen measurements in municipal air quality policies in a proper way.
• Conditions for Successful Engagement with Policies (a Tool for Citizens): the tool will address what is required to be an active citizen and a frontrunner that influences municipal air quality and carbon policies.
1. Introduction This report is part of the ClairCity (‘Citizen Led Air pollution Reduction in Cities’) project, which is funded by the European Union under the Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme. ClairCity aims to address the relationship between citizens’ daily activities and their effects on carbon emissions and air pollution, and ultimately on public health and wellbeing. Its ultimate objective is to contribute to effective citizen engagement with city, national and EU level policy-making about air quality, carbon emissions, wellbeing and health. The project aims to actively engage European citizens in four European cities: Amsterdam (NL); Bristol (UK); Ljubljana (SI); and, Sosnowiec (PL) and two regions: the Aveiro Region (PT); and, the Genoa/ Liguria Region (IT). From the experiences in these pilot cities and regions, lessons will be drawn for policy makers in all cities in Europe regarding effective and efficient, citizen-driven policies in the fields of air quality and climate change.
The ClairCity project is built around seven Work Packages (WPs) (Figure 1-1). Central to the project is WP4, Citizen and Stakeholder Engagement, in which four core engagement activities will take place: 1. Building a game for citizens as a tool to derive future scenarios for their city; 2. Developing and deploying a smartphone app by which citizens and organisations can gain insights into their own contribution to air quality and climate change; 3. A schools’ competition for children; and 4. A film competition for the elderly to help raise awareness.
These citizen engagement activities will feed into advice on more effective, citizen-inclusive city air quality and carbon policies. Therefore WP6 on Policy and Governance supports WP4 by providing information on the existing policy context, such as this report, into which the engagement activities feed. It also aims to translate the outcomes of the engagement activities (WP4) and the quantification activities (WP5) into specific recommendations for policy makers in the pilot cities and regions. It also aims to translate these into general recommendations that are relevant for policy makers in all cities aiming to stimulate citizen-inclusive air quality and climate change policies (WP7). WP6 receives inputs from social science (behavioural practices3) theory from WP3, and the outcomes may contribute to theory building in this field by way of showing the opportunities and limitations of the application of these theories in practice. The sub-Work Packages of WP6 are a ‘Policy Baseline Analysis’ (WP6.1), ‘Emission Calculation and Reporting’ (WP6.2), ‘The Room for Manoeuvre of City Policies’ (WP6.3) and ‘Post-Engagement Policy Workshops’ (WP6.4). This report is one of the six deliverables under WP6.1, together with the five other city/region baseline policy analyses.
Further information on ClairCity can be found at www.claircity.eu.
3 As developed e.g. by Andreas Reckwitz, Theodore Schatzki and others.
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Figure 1-1 Schematic overview of the ClairCity project
1.1. Objective The objective of this report is to review current air quality and climate related policies in Amsterdam. These policies affect public health and the well-being of citizens, and in turn the practices of citizens also affect the outcomes of these policies. Therefore the policies are not examined as separate entities, but rather as part of an overall policy package affecting the quality of life of citizens in the cities. A focus is placed on energy and transport policies, as these have the most direct and important interactions with citizen behaviour.
The aim of this report is to provide
- A description of Amsterdam’s air quality and climate change policies and their international, national and regional context;
- An analysis of the role of citizens in these policies and their impact on citizens’ health and well-being; and,
- A discussion of the relevance of the findings of this report for the ClairCity project. This report is aimed at both project partners and external audiences. Firstly, the report should give the ClairCity project team and associated policy makers from the pilot cities and regions a background for the other activities planned in the project. As such the report will serve to provide a basis for further work in Work Package 6 on policies, and provide context for the citizen and stakeholder engagement activities in WP4. Secondly, the report will be
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published externally on the ClairCity website, and should therefore provide useful information to external policy makers on citizen-inclusive policy making in Amsterdam.
1.2. Scope Policy making in its most basic form can be regarded as a cyclical process which involves several consecutive steps from policy design via implementation to evaluation, after which the process starts anew4. In order to delineate more precisely the scope of this report, an adapted version of this general ‘policy-cycle model’ is used. It does not start with policy making as such, but rather with citizens and other actors’ behaviours and practices (Figure 1-2).
Figure 1-2: Scope of the ClairCity policy baseline analysis report
According to this model, citizens’ and other stakeholders’ behaviours and practices contribute to emissions resulting in air pollution and climate change (Stage 1). These are regarded as societal problems that require policy intervention (Stage 2). Air quality and climate change as policy problems lead to the formulation of policies in various areas, out of which energy (consumption) and transport are the most relevant for ClairCity (Stage 3). In order to achieve the targets that have been set out in each of the policy areas, several instruments are applied, including the provision of information and development of awareness, financial instruments and direct enforcement (Stage 4). These influence the behaviour of citizens and other actors in order to reduce air pollution and climate change
4 See for instance Mwije, S. (2013). The Policy Cycle Notion - The Policy Cycle, Its Usefulness, and Criticisms
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(Stage 5). Finally, the changed behaviour of citizens and the other stakeholders results in wider impacts such as improved health and wellbeing of citizens (Stage 6).
This model has several consequences for the scope of the ClairCity policy analysis:
• A focus on citizens’ behaviour against the background of other actors’ behaviour (citizens’ emissions versus background emissions, with ‘background’ understood as all emissions outside the city plus all non-citizens’ emissions [i.e. commercial, industrial, other] inside the city);
• A focus on energy and transport policies and their impacts on citizens; • A focus on how citizens’ behaviour and practices are not always a result of free
and independent choices, but are often constrained by physical and social structures, and the expectations of others;
• A focus on all policy (instruments) that affect citizens’ behaviour (and as a result have an impact on air quality or carbon emissions), also taking into account the impact of this on other stakeholders’ behaviour; and,
• A focus on the final impacts of the applied policy instruments on citizens’ future health and wellbeing.
1.3. Method The layout and overall content of this report have been prepared in close consultation with the WP6 members of ClairCity and with further internal and external quality assurance, in particular also from Amsterdam city policy makers. The report serves as a flexible template for the other five reports in WP6.1.
The framework for the analysis in this report is based on the general underlying hypothesis that citizen-orientated policy making will lead to better regulation and greater societal support for actions to improve air quality and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This will also underpin the overall systemic change towards a more sustainable society that is needed in the coming decades. Three core underlying assumptions are made here regarding successful citizen-orientated air quality and climate related policy making for healthy cities that are pleasant to live in:
1. Policies need to address citizens as a target group in order to reach out to them; 2. Successful citizen-inclusive policy-making needs to address the behaviours and
practices that citizens can actually change (e.g. the mobility choices they make to commute to work or take children to school, the way they heat their homes etc.);
3. Policies have to be framed in such a way that they are relevant, acceptable and preferably appealing to citizens. Therefore they should resonate with the everyday challenges and constraints they face and fit with positive ideas about the future that they have. The consequences of air pollution on citizens health and wellbeing, or better, the benefits of reduced air pollution, may therefore be a better argument to raise awareness of air polluting behaviour among citizens than communicating about air pollution itself.
The analysis also takes into account that air quality and climate change policies in cities are embedded in a wider context which consists of policies outside the realm of local policy makers (i.e. at regional, national or European levels). At city level, there are also other policies, directed at other stakeholders, or at other problems, that are often unconnected (or
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perceived to be) to air pollution and climate change. Hence, these other factors that contribute to more or less successful air quality and climate change policy-making at a city level have to be examined as well for two reasons.
Firstly, they give an idea of the relative role and importance of citizen behaviour in causing air pollution and climate change related emissions. Secondly, they provide the context and framing for the practices of citizens and for the attempts to include these in future air quality and climate change policies. Figure 1-3 gives a general view of background versus peak concentrations in a city.
Figure 1-3: Background versus peak concentrations in a city
These considerations lead to the following key evaluation questions for this report which will be discussed in the conclusion chapter of this report.
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Roles of citizens in policy making
1. What is the role of citizens and other stakeholders in air quality and climate change policies at national and local levels?
2. What specific behaviours and practices of citizens are encouraged or discouraged by air quality and climate related policies?
3. In what way do policies differentiate between different citizens?
4. Which communication frames and messages are used in national and local policies directed at citizens?
Leeway in local policy making
5. What are the impacts of voluntary citizen and other stakeholder initiatives on air quality, climate change, wellbeing and public health?
6. In what way are the ambitions of local policy makers in the field of air quality and climate change enhanced or hindered by other policy levels?
General success and fail factors of local policies
7. Which factors are most relevant to the success or failure of local policy making in the field of air quality and climate change?
8. Which of these factors are only relevant for the city itself, and which factors are more generally relevant to all cities?
1.4. Outline This report is structured as follows:
• Chapter 2 sets out the specific local characteristics of Amsterdam relevant for air quality and climate change policy making;
• Chapter 3 examines the global, European and national context of city policies; • Chapter 4 analyses local and regional policies, as well as citizen and other
stakeholder initiatives and actions in Amsterdam; • Chapter 5 presents the conclusions of the report and discusses the relevance of
the findings for the other activities in the ClairCity project.
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2. Amsterdam: Key Characteristics This chapter gives an introduction to some key characteristics of Amsterdam that are relevant for air quality and climate policies in Amsterdam, and the existing behaviours and practices of Amsterdam citizens that influence air quality and climate related emissions. It first discusses the general geographical characteristics of the city (section 2.1), and then its economy (2.2), population (2.3) and governance (2.4). It then gives a brief overview of typical Amsterdam characteristics that influence the energy (2.5) and transport practices of Amsterdam citizens (2.6). It concludes with analysis and discussion (2.7) of the potential impact of these specific city characteristics on the ClairCity project.
2.1. Geography Amsterdam is the capital of the Netherlands and one of the main urban and economic centres of the country. It is also a major tourist destination. With around 835,000 inhabitants in 2016 (1.6 million in the greater metropolitan area), it is the largest city in the Netherlands, ahead of Rotterdam and The Hague.
Figure 2-1: Geographical location of Amsterdam5
Situated in the Netherlands (Figure 2-1) and near to the North Sea, the city has a maritime climate, with monthly mean temperatures between 0 and 20ºC. Moderate rainfall (between 40 – 80 mm monthly mean)6 and predominantly southwestern sea winds (4-6 m/s on average)7 bringing in air pollution from shipping and the UK. Amsterdam, like the most of the western part of the Netherlands, is situated at, and partly below sea level. The city is therefore highly susceptible to sea level rise.
5 www.amsterdam-advisor.com 6 https://weather-and-climate.com 7 Ibid.
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2.2. Economy The Amsterdam metropolitan area (Figure 2-2) is a focal point of international enterprise and industry. Some 1.4 million people work in the region8. Strong sectors are the harbour, the airport, tourism, the creative industries and financial and business services.
Figure 2-2: Amsterdam metropolitan area
Amsterdam harbour is the largest petrol import and storage port and the second largest coal port of Europe. It is responsible for the employment of some 68,000 people in the Amsterdam region, some 650 harbour-related enterprises and €6.7 billion gross value added9. Schiphol International Airport employs some 65,000 people at around 500 airport-related enterprises, leading to a gross added value of some €5.8 billion10. Another important industrial employer in the area, with some 9,000 employees, is the Tata Steel factory at IJmuiden11.
With some 8.3 million foreign tourists per year visiting the city, Amsterdam is also highly dependent on tourism. The sector is responsible for some 61,000 jobs in the city12. Large growth rates of numbers of tourists in recent years have now led to a public discussion in Amsterdam about the merits and the problems related to tourism, particularly in the city centre13. Creative industries, comprising advertising, design, fashion and gaming, is a sector that is also important for Amsterdam. Whereas the number of employees is lower than that of other main sectors (some 16,000 persons in 201614), these industries are strongly promoted by the Municipality of Amsterdam as a source of innovation and creative spirit for the city.
8 https://www.amsterdameconomicboard.com/feiten-en-cijfers 9 https://www.portofamsterdam.nl/factsheets-English 10 Decisio (2015). Economisch belang van mainport Schiphol 11 https://fd.nl/ondernemen/1157876/tata-steel-ijmuiden-ziet-winst-meer-dan-halveren 12 https://www.ois.amsterdam.nl/toerisme 13 http://www.volkskrant.nl/binnenland/amsterdam-wil-toestroom-toeristen-indammen-voor-veel-bewoners-niet-leuk-meer~a4402725/ 14 http://www.iamsterdam.com/en/business/invest/your-industry/creative
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Finally, a large sector contributing to the economy in the Amsterdam metropolitan area is financial services. Amsterdam hosts 50 international banking chains and more than 20 major insurance companies, it has a Stock Exchange and is one of the world’s largest trading centres for derivatives15. Overall financial and business services in Amsterdam are responsible for some 225,000 jobs16.
2.3. Population Amsterdam is a popular place to live in the Netherlands, and the Amsterdam population is growing. Whereas as of 2016, Amsterdam has 834,713 inhabitants17, it is expected that the population will grow to 922,000 inhabitants by 205018. More than half of the population is of foreign origin. Main non-western countries of origin are Morocco, Surinam and Turkey19. There are large differences in the incomes of Amsterdam inhabitants, with the ‘South’ neighbourhood having relatively the highest annual incomes (31% > €41 800), and ‘South-East’ the lowest (7% > €41 800)20.
2.4. Governance The Municipal Council is the highest administrative body of Amsterdam. It consists of 45 members, with the Committee of Mayor and Alderpersons as the executive body of the Council. Whilst the Council has, traditionally, been often dominated by Social Democrats (PvdA) and Green Party (GL), it is currently (2014-2018) governed by a new coalition of Liberal-democrats (D66), Liberals (VVD) and Socialists (SP). Administratively, the city is part of the Province of North Holland. On a regional level it cooperates in the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area, and on a national level in the so-called ‘G4’ platform, an advocacy coalition consisting of the four main cities of the Netherlands (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht).
Figure 2-3: The Amsterdam City Council
15 http://www.iamsterdam.com/en/local/work/your-industry/finance 16 Gemeente Amsterdam (2016). Economische verkenningen metropoolregio Amsterdam 17 Gemeente Amsterdam (2016). Amsterdam in cijfers 2016 18 http://www.ois.amsterdam.nl/visualisatie/bevolking.html 19 Ibid. 20 Gemeente Amsterdam (2013). Stadsdelen in cijfers
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2.5. Energy The main energy consuming practices of citizens (aside from mobility) are heating of their homes and electricity use for lighting, refrigerating, watching TV, and use of other electronic appliances. Several structural characteristics of Amsterdam influence these practices. Firstly, there is an ancient housing stock in the city centre, with many historical 17th century buildings which are protected and therefore present physical and conservation constraints for energy renovation measures such as insulation or solar panels. Secondly, energy infrastructure is very much centred around the use of gas for the purpose of space and water heating, and cooking, due to the large domestic gas reserves in the Netherlands.
This second issue is one of national debate, with a public discussion starting in 2016 around the idea of building ‘gas free neighbourhoods’ in future. The public discussion on the future of gas in the Netherlands, has been triggered by a variety of factors, including climate policy; the decline of domestic gas reserves and by small earthquakes causing damage to houses in the gas exploitation area in the North of the Netherlands.
Until now the predominance of gas infrastructure has also led to limited use of district heating in Amsterdam (Figure 2-4) and in the rest of the Netherlands, but this public debate has now opened up new possibilities for district heating. This may make it more acceptable for citizens to change their existing gas heating to (waste fuelled) district heating. This would also involve changes to cooking behaviour (electric or ceramic cookers needed) and limit the choice of alternative energy suppliers. Increased district heating is also needed because Amsterdam, as one of the frontrunners in the public discussion about gas, announced in 2016 that it would aim to be a ‘gas free city’ in 205021.
Figure 2-4: District heating in Amsterdam22
Red dots: district heat suppliers Red lines: district heating network Yellow: housing connected to district heating network
21 Gemeente Amsterdam (2016.) Naar een stad zonder aardgas, 7 November 2016 22 Gemeente Amsterdam (2014). Agenda Duurzaamheid Amsterdam
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2.6. Transport Transport behaviour consists of several practices, such as commuting, going to leisure activities, shopping etc. Traditionally (at least since the late 18th Century), the Netherlands is a cycling country. This is also reflected in Amsterdam, where more people have a bike (72%) than a driver’s license (66%)23. Every day, Amsterdam citizens ride some 2 million km per bike24 and cycling is an integral part of Amsterdam city life.
Furthermore, Amsterdam has an extensive and functional public transport network, results in citizens travelling almost as many kilometres by public transport (28km/day on average) as by car (35 km/day on average)25. Commuting is the transport practice that on average takes most time of Amsterdam citizens (Table 2.1). Finally, Amsterdam has an extensive network of canals, which are currently used mostly for tourist boats. However, their potential use for freight and passenger transport are currently being examined.
Table 2-1: Transport practices of Amsterdam citizens 26
(km/day) / (min./day) Public
transport Bike Car Total
Business / commuting 19 / 46 4 / 19 20 / 31 13 / 32
Education 12 / 38 4 / 19 21 / 30 8 / 27
Shopping 17 / 30 2 / 12 6 / 14 2 / 13
Leisure 16 / 48 3 / 16 17 / 27 6 / 23
Average 15 / 43 3 / 16 15 / 25 7 / 22
2.7. Discussion The analysis in this chapter has pointed to some key characteristics of Amsterdam that have to be considered in the analysis of air quality and carbon emissions and concentrations. These included geographical and infrastructural characteristics as well as the identification of key emission sources such as the airport, harbour and industry. In addition, there are also many other emission sources contributing to background concentrations of pollutants that originate from further away in the Netherlands or Europe. The potential for achieving any significant reduction in air polluting emissions as a specific result of changing behaviours
23 Gemeente Amsterdam (2016). Amsterdam in Cijfers 2015 24 https://www.amsterdam.nl/parkeren-verkeer/fiets/fietsbeleid/meerjarenplan-fiets/ 25 Ibid. 26 Ibid.
26
and practices of citizens in Amsterdam needs, therefore, to be considered in the context of these larger sources of pollution. It needs to be taken into account that industrial and transport emissions have different characteristics in terms of direct or indirect exposure, the former mainly contributing to background concentrations; the latter to direct exposure peaks.
However, even if the overall importance of citizen-based emissions might be small compared to the emissions that are beyond city influence, two things need to be taken into account. Firstly, that citizen-based emissions may be extremely important in determining exposure in specific locations (e.g. traffic related hotspots), and secondly involvement of citizens in policies is a means to obtain larger public acceptance of these policies, which is an important precondition for successful policy making.
City physical and cultural characteristics also play a role in explaining existing practices of citizens, as well as in potential opportunities and barriers to changing these. Geography and climate, for instance, influence heating behaviour and the economy influences transport behaviour (commuting and business displacements). Behaviours and practices are also influenced by cultural habits (biking) and by available infrastructures (public transport, gas and district heating networks). The composition of the population may also suggest specific target audiences for messaging. From the review carried out and presented here, it is clear that, in order to get a representative sample of the population for any engagement activities, it will be particularly important to ensure that engagement reflects the city’s wide cultural diversity and the large differences in mean incomes between neighbourhoods.
3. International and National Air Quality & Climate Change Policies Relevant for Amsterdam
This chapter describes and analyses international and national policies in the field of air quality and climate change that determine the context for Amsterdam city policy making in these fields. The chapter first considers the international and European context that is relevant for Amsterdam, as well as for the other ClairCity pilot cities and regions (Section 3.1). It then examines the specific national context by first outlining the air quality and climate change situation of the Netherlands (3.2), then the way in which air quality and climate change policy making in general is organised in the Netherlands (3.3), and the current state of policies (3.4). The chapter ends with a discussion that reflects on the impact of current international and national policies for Amsterdam and the potential implications for ClairCity.
3.1. International and European policy context For air quality as well as for climate change, several important international regulatory agreements, policies and frameworks exist that – directly or indirectly – have an impact on national and city level policies.
27
Air quality
Air pollution has been regulated for many years at an international level by United Nations bodies as well as by the European Union. On a global level, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe’s (UNECE) Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution (CLRTAP) and the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Guidelines are important regulatory frameworks.
CLRTAP was established in 1979.27 Under this Convention parties are obligated to report several air quality related emission data to the Conventions’ Executive Body. These include sulphur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx), non-methane volatile organic compound (NMVOC), carbon oxide (CO), ammonia (NH3), particulate matter (PM), various heavy metals and persistent organic pollutants (POP). The PM targets were only added in recent years, the 1999 ‘Gothenburg Protocol’ being adapted in 2012 to also include PM and black carbon targets for 2020.
Whilst not legally binding, on a global level the Air Quality Guidelines of the WHO play an important role in the policy discussions, including in the EU, Netherlands and Amsterdam. Based on the health impacts of air quality, the WHO has published guidelines for several air pollutants and supports extensive research into the effects of air pollution. It also promotes ‘successful air quality policies’ internationally.
Successful air quality policies according to the WHO28
According to the WHO, successful air quality policies comprise:
• For industry: clean technologies that reduce industrial smokestack emissions; improved management of urban and agricultural waste, including capture of methane gas emitted from waste sites as an alternative to incineration (for use as biogas);
• For transport: prioritising rapid urban transit, walking and cycling networks in cities as well as rail inter-urban freight and passenger travel; shifting to cleaner heavy duty diesel vehicles and low-emissions vehicles and fuels, including fuels with reduced sulphur content; shifting to clean modes of power generation (for electric transit and vehicles);
• For urban planning: improving the energy efficiency of buildings and making cities
more compact, and thus energy efficient;
• For power generation: increased use of low-emissions fuels and renewable combustion-free power sources (like solar, wind or hydropower); co-generation of heat and power; and distributed energy generation (e.g. mini-grids and rooftop solar power generation);
27 RIVM, 2016. Emissions of transboundary air pollutants in the Netherlands 1990-2014. Informative inventory report 2016 28 WHO (2016) Ambient (outdoor) air quality and health, Factsheet, September 2016, http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs313/en/
28
• For municipal and agricultural waste management: strategies for waste reduction, waste separation, recycling and reuse or waste reprocessing; as well as improved methods of biological waste management such as anaerobic waste digestion to produce biogas, are feasible, low cost alternatives to the open incineration of solid waste. Where incineration is unavoidable, then combustion technologies with strict emission controls are critical.
At EU level, the Ambient Air Quality Directive (2008/50/EC), adopted on 21 May 2008, sets ambient air quality concentration limits and target values for several substances. These were introduced in the context of an overall trend for significant declines in EU emissions over the last 10-20 years, as shown below in Figure 3.1. This was particularly the case for SO2 levels, but PM10 and NO2 levels are declining much more slowly, and this is part of what the Directive was introduced to address.
Figure 3-1: Trends in EU air pollutant averages, 1990-2013, PM10, SO2, NO229
Table 3-1: Air Quality Emission Standards comparison for selected main air pollutants: WHO and EU standards (maximum number of annual exceedances in brackets)
29 European Parliament (2016) Implementation of the Ambient Air Quality Directive
29
WHO30 EU31
PM10 20 μg/m3 annual mean
50 μg/m3 24-hour mean
40 μg/m3 annual mean
50 μg/m3 24-hour mean (35)
PM2.5 10 μg/m3 annual mean
25 μg/m3 24-hour mean
25 μg/m3 annual mean
NO2 40 μg/m3 annual mean
200 μg/m3 1-hour mean
40 μg/m3 annual mean
200 μg/m3 1-hour mean (18)
SO2 20 μg/m3 24-hour mean
125 μg/m3 24-hour mean (3)
350 μg/m3 1-hour mean (24)
The Ambient Air Quality Directive air quality concentration limits and target values are generally less strict than the WHO guidelines (Table 3.1). In order to achieve these concentration levels, for air quality related emissions the National Emissions Ceiling Directive (2001/81/EC), agreed in 2001 and amended in 2009 and 2016, sets national emission ceilings (NECs) for the EU Member States. Rules were also set for measuring air quality by Directive 2004/107/EC on Reference methods, data validation and location of sampling points for the assessment of ambient air quality, which was adapted in 2005 and 2015.
In 2013 a third of EU's urban zones still exceeded the limit values for particulate matter (PM10) and a quarter for nitrogen dioxide (NO2) annual mean. At that moment, 17 Member States were subject to infringement proceedings for PM10 non-compliance32. In December 2013, the Commission adopted a Clean Air Policy Package, consisting of a new Clean Air Programme for Europe with new air quality objectives for the period up to 2030, a revised National Emission Ceilings Directive with stricter national emission ceilings for the six main pollutants (see Figure 3-2), and a proposal for a new Directive to reduce pollution from medium-sized combustion plant installations. In the light of this policy package, the NEC proposal was adopted in 2016, in a session chaired by the Dutch Government33.
30 http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs313/en/ 31 http://ec.europa.eu/environment/air/quality/standards.htm 32 European Commission (2013). A Clean Air Programme for Europe, COM/2013/0918 final. 33 European Council (2016). Air quality: agreement on stricter limits for pollutant emissions, press release.
30
Figure 3-2: Reductions of emissions in air pollutants covered by the National Emission Ceilings Directive as of 201634
Apart from these directives, there are a variety of regulations and directives in the fields of energy and transport relevant for regulation of sources of air pollution. These are for instance the Large Combustion Plants directive (2001/80/EC) and the Regulation on light passenger and commercial vehicles (459/2012) setting the so-called ‘Euro-6’ emission standards for cars.
Climate Change
The current framework for international climate policies is provided by the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement. This legally binding agreement was signed by 195 countries and sets out a long-term goal of keeping the increase in global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels. The agreement also expresses the ambition to limit the increase to 1.5°C, since this would significantly reduce both the risks and the impacts of climate change.
The European Union has long been active in promoting ambitious climate policies at home and internationally, being a key force in the UNFCCC, signatory to the original Kyoto Protocol and a pioneer in the use of market-based mechanisms for emissions trading (EU-ETS). The current EU climate (and energy) policy framework is based on targets for 2020 and 2030. For 2020, the EU Climate and Energy Package set out the ’20-20-20 targets’ (20% cut in greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels, 20% of EU energy from renewables and 20% improvement in energy efficiency), which were followed by the ‘2030 Climate and Energy Framework’. The latter was adopted in 2014 and consists of the following main targets of at least:
• 40% cuts in greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels; • 27% share for renewable energy; and, • 27% improvement in energy efficiency.
The energy efficiency target has since been increased to 30% following significant controversy over the (perceived very low) ambition, costs and benefits of the 27% target.
34 European Commission (2016). EU approves new rules for Member States to drastically cut air pollution, 14 December 2016
31
The European Union also aims to unite local initiatives on a European scale in the Covenant of Mayors, in which 583 signatories uniting some 224 million inhabitants of municipalities have committed to implementing EU climate and energy objectives in their territory35.
3.2. Emission trends in the Netherlands Air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions have been declining in the Netherlands over recent years. However, that does not imply that all policy targets are met, as the following sections will show.
Air quality pollutant emission trends
Over the period 1990-2014, the emissions of main air pollutants in the Netherlands showed a significant downward trend over all main sources of pollution: waste sector, transport, industry, small combustion (including households), energy sector and refining (Figures 3.3 to 3.6)36. In 2014, the Netherlands was in compliance with the respective ceilings for NOx, SO2 and NMVOC. The exception was NH3, whose concentrations increased in 2014 and exceeded the national emission ceiling set for the year 201037. These NH3 emissions are largely due to an intensive agriculture sector.
Figures 3-3 – 3-6 Emissions trends and sources 1990-2014
35 http://www.covenantofmayors.eu/index_en.html 36 RIVM (2016) Emissions of transboundary air pollutants in the Netherlands 1990-2014. Informative inventory report 2016 37 Ibid.
32
Regarding specific emissions by households (excluding transport), a downward trend can also be observed. NOx and SO2 emissions in households decreased especially, more efficient heating being a major factor in this trend (Figure 3.7).
Figure 3-7: Air polluting emissions by households in the Netherlands, 1990-201538
Greenhouse gas emission trends Greenhouse gas emissions in the Netherlands also decreased over the period 1990 -2015. Compared to the Kyoto base year of 1990, emissions of greenhouse gases in the Netherlands were 12.4% lower. Greenhouse gas emissions increased by 5% in 2015 compared to 2014 due to a colder winter and an increased use of coal in energy production. Whereas for most greenhouse gases emissions declined, for CO2 – by far the most important source of greenhouse gas emissions – emissions increased by 2.1% since 1990 (Figure 3-8)39. The main CO2 emitting sectors in the Netherlands are industry and the energy sector, transport, the built environment and agriculture (Figure 3-9). Households contribute to CO2 emissions in particular via space heating in the built environment, via household traffic in the transport sector and via their electricity use in the energy sector.
Figure 3-8: Greenhouse gas emissions and trends in the Netherlands 1990-201440
38 http://www.clo.nl/indicatoren/nl0138-emissies-naar-lucht-door-huishoudens 39 Compendium voor de leefomgeving, adapted from CBS, PBL, Wageningen UR (2016). Emissies broeikasgassen 1990-2014 40 Ibid.
33
Figure 3-9 CO2 emissions and trends in the Netherlands 1990-201441
While CO2 emissions are the main part of households GHG emissions households also contribute emissions of N2O and CH4 (Figure 3-9)42. Emissions of these GHGs showed a varied trend. Whereas emissions of CO2 and CH4 have decreased since 1990, those of N2O have increased. The emissions of CO2 and N2O are for the most important part determined by the use of fuels, in the Netherlands mainly natural gas for space heating. The low emissions particularly in 2014 are mainly the result of an unusually warm winter.
Figure 3-10: Greenhouse gas emissions by households in the Netherlands, 1990 - 201543
41 Ibid. 42 CBS (2016). Emissies naar lucht door huishoudens, 1990-2015 43CBS (2016). Emissies naar lucht door huishoudens, 1990-2015
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3.3. Governance of air quality and climate change in the Netherlands
Responsibility for air quality and climate change policies in the Netherlands is shared by the national government, provinces and municipalities. The Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment (IenM) is responsible for air quality policy in the Netherlands and has a key role in coordinating efforts with the provinces and municipalities (Figure 3-11).44 It does so through the so-called ‘National Cooperation Programme for Air Quality (NSL)’.
The NSL is the result of a lively public debate in the Netherlands from 2005 onwards, when many building projects were forced to stop by legislative action from NGOs referring to EU air pollution legislation. What followed was a substantial national legislative and organisational effort to improve legislation and measurement, improve national coordination and also to improve air quality at several hot-spots. For instance, the Ministry set up ‘Bureau Monitoring’, an organisation to execute and monitor the results of the NSL by:
• Managing the national information and calculation system regarding air quality; • Producing yearly reports on the results of the monitoring of the NSL; • Producing reports on air quality in the Netherlands for the reporting necessary
towards the EU; and, • Acting as a contact point for government regarding monitoring of the NSL.
Bureau Monitoring provides the Government with timely information, latest data and the state-of-the-art of projects and policies that influence air quality. When the Netherlands does not comply with the targets set in the NSL, the government is required to take additional measures at the local or national level.45 The Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) is the executive authority for measuring/assessing air quality through the Landelijk Meetnet Luchtkwaliteit (LML), the national air quality measurement network, consisting of individual measurement locations and of harmonised calculation methods for measuring overall air quality in the Netherlands.
Municipalities have the power to take concrete policy measures such us establishing so-called ‘environmental zones’ (‘milieuzones’) in cities, these are low-emission areas from which the most polluting vehicles or vehicle types are banned from specified areas. In practice, municipalities in the Netherlands have adopted different kinds of zones: whereas in some cities passenger cars are addressed, in others zones only refer to vans, buses and/or scooters. The report discusses these ‘environmental zones’ in more detail in chapter 4.
44 http://www.rivm.nl/Onderwerpen/M/Monitoring_NSL 45 https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/onderwerpen/luchtkwaliteit/inhoud/maatregelen-tegen-luchtvervuiling
35
Figure 3.11: Governance structure of air quality in the Netherlands
Source: own illustration
The Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment is also responsible for overall climate change policies in the Netherlands.46 However, the responsibilities for executive policies that contribute to achieving climate change targets are divided over several ministries. Whereas the Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment itself coordinates transport policy, housing policy falls under the Ministry of Interior Affairs, and energy policy is the responsibility of the Ministry of Economic Affairs. Certain spatial planning responsibilities, important for e.g. the siting of wind turbines, are the responsibilities of the provinces.47 Municipalities have to comply with these spatial planning conditions as well as with the climate related standards set by national policies, but are free to set more ambitious climate targets locally.
3.4. Air quality and climate change policies in the Netherlands
Air quality and climate change policies in the Netherlands have quite different backgrounds. Whereas at some points in the past air quality dominated the public discussion in the Netherlands, in recent years climate change has received the most public attention of the two. Recent public debates in the Netherlands relating to climate change include for instance the intended closure of the Dutch coal power plants and the future of gas.
46 http://www.milieuloket.nl/id/vhurdyxq65wm/nederlands_milieubeleid 47 The Netherlands is divided in 12 provinces, and each province in turn into several Municipalities. Provinces are in between the Municipality and the Central Government.
Government
Air quality legislation
Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment (IenM)
Air quality policy
National Cooperation Programme for Air Quality
(NSL)Coordinate efforts with
regions and cities
Bureau Monitoring
Managing the monitoring tool
Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM)
Air quality control
Landelijk Meetnet Luchtkwaliteit
Air quality measuring body
Municipalities
Policies in cities
36
Air quality
Air quality legislation in the Netherlands dates from the 1970s. As a result of this legislation, the main sources of air pollution are now closely regulated and have substantially reduced their emissions. This holds, for instance, for large power plants, which have largely reduced their SO2 emissions in particular due to the ‘acid rain’ discussion in the 1980s and the resulting EU Large Combustion Plants Directive48.
Air quality was also a topic of a lively public debate in the Netherlands in the early 2000s, when several building and road projects where rejected by the highest Dutch public law authority for not complying with EU air quality legislation. This led to an adaptation of the existing Dutch legislation and a derogation request to the EU in order to be allowed to meet EU targets at a later stage.
Dutch derogation request for EU air quality limit values
Dutch air quality policies and spatial planning policies are closely connected. In the 2000s for instance, air quality policies led to several juridical rejections of spatial planning projects (i.e. building and roads construction). The reason for this was the new EU limit values for PM10 and NO2 to be met on 1 January 2005 and 1 January 2010 respectively. Environmental NGOs used these in legal procedures which led judges to stop planned and even already executed spatial planning and building projects that would lead to an exceedance of those values. In order to comply with EU legislation, the Netherlands had to ask the Commission for a derogation of meeting the criteria until 2011 and 2015 respectively. The derogation was granted because the Commission considered the newly formulated National Air Quality Cooperation Programme (NSL) sufficient basis for meeting the criteria at those dates. In 2015 NO2 criteria were not yet met in 2015 at certain hotspots in the Netherlands (see section 3.2) including several locations in Amsterdam.
Currently NO2, NH3 and PM concentrations are highest on the Dutch air quality policy agenda. This corresponds mainly with the target groups transport and agriculture. Citizens are a relatively minor target group of direct air quality policies in the Netherlands. Rather, their contribution to air pollution is addressed in targeted transport and energy policies. Nevertheless the life of citizens is indirectly influenced in many ways by air quality policies, e.g. by more efficient heating, building standards or transport policies.
Whereas in the past, air quality policies were mainly implemented because of their negative impacts on the natural environment (e.g. acid rain, eutrophication), currently they are framed for being important to reduce climate change and for their health effects49. However, the overall health effects of air quality in the Netherlands are at present rarely a policy topic of
48 European Commission (1988). Large Combustion Plants Directive, 88/609/EEC 49 https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/onderwerpen/luchtkwaliteit
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importance. They tend to only arise in public debate with regard to certain exposure-driven local policy measures, such as low-speed traffic zones on motorways around cities.50
Present national legislation for air quality in the Netherlands is based on the Environmental Management Act (‘Wet Milieubeheer’) of November 2007. Important elements are the following:
National Air Quality Cooperation Programme (NSL)
Most of the air quality measures are set out in the ‘Nationaal Samenwerkingsprogramma Luchtkwaliteit’ (NSL), an agreement between central government, provinces and municipalities. The main aim of the programme is to ensure compliance with European limit values for PM10 and NO2 “in order to reduce health risks caused by air pollution… on the respiratory tract and the cardiovascular system”51. Since the measures in the NSL are mandatory, local governments receive funds for the execution of their policy measures.52 The NSL is in turn composed of Regional Collaboration Programmes (RSL) setting out the action plans at regional level. Measures taken as part of the RSL range from the establishment of ‘environmental zones’ (‘milieuzones’) for various transport types, to arrangements with public transport companies (concessions), that contribute to improving the flow of vehicles in the region.53 The NSL is updated yearly.54
Air quality regulations and limit values
Since 2011, as a consequence of having to comply with the European E-PRTR Directive on European Pollutant Release and Transfer, about 1 000 organisations are legally obliged to submit data on their emissions of air pollutants when they exceed a certain threshold.55 The limit values for outdoor air quality are established in the Environmental Management Act (Wet Milieubeheer). The main regulated pollutants are NO2 and PM, which have to comply with the EU limit values.
Air Quality Assessment Regulation
The ‘Regeling Beoordeling Luchtkwaliteit’ regulates minimum measurement obligations for air quality. In order to comply with the regulation, a national air quality monitoring network was set up, that performs measurements at the national level in partnership with local monitoring networks such as those operated by the Amsterdam Regional Health Authority and the Rijnmond Environmental Protection Agency (DCMR).56 With current technology, the
50 De Ingenieur (2016). Negen vragen over de luchtkwaliteit rond snelwegen, 4 maart 2016 51 Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment (2016). Verlengen Nationaal Samenwerkingsprogramma Luchtkwaliteit (NSL). Kabinetsbesluit 52 Gemeente Amsterdam (2013). Evaluatie Amsterdamse maatregelen luchtkwaliteit 53 Provincie Noord-Holland, Provincie Frevoland (2008). Een schone en gezonde lucht in de noordvleugel. Regionaal Samenwerkingsprogramma Luchtkwaliteit Noordvleugel. 54 http://rwsenvironment.eu/subjects/air/air-quality/ 55 RIVM (2016). Emissions of transboundary air pollutants in the Netherlands 1990-2014. Informative inventory report 2016 56 RIVM (2016). Beoordeling Nederlandse luchtkwaliteit voor de Europese meetverplichting, periode 2009-2013 Achtergrondrapport, RIVM 2016
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network allows for a real-time monitoring of air quality to be presented to individual citizens on their smart phone in an app.
The Dutch ‘Air Quality App’ 57
Since April 2013, the Netherlands has an air quality app that provides users with real-time information about the concentration of pollutants on every single location in the Netherlands. The system consists of an index which provides information about the concentration of particulate matter, ozone and nitrogen dioxide in the air at any given time of the day. The App receives input from the Air Quality Index developed by the National Health Institute RIVM and also advices citizens with respiratory problems whether or not daily practices need to be adapted due to high levels of air pollutants.
Decision on Sensitive Locations (BGB)
The ‘Besluit Gevoelige Bestemmingen’ takes the most vulnerable citizens into account. According to this Decision, new road projects near to schools, children’s day-care centres or residences of the elderly are only allowed if the total number of people exposed to NO2 or PM10 does not increase as a result of the project.58 In practice, the distance between these buildings and the edge of a highway or a provincial road should be at least 300 meters and 50 meters respectively. In addition, the number of exposed people residing in the area should not increase as result of the project. Municipalities may set additional conditions at a local level. Amsterdam, for instance, claims to be the strictest in the Netherlands.
Decision on Sensitive Destinations in Amsterdam
Many of the measures directed at improving air quality or at combating climate change in Amsterdam are infrastructure or housing measures which impact the lives of citizens indirectly. One of these is the stricter interpretation by the municipality of Amsterdam of the national Decision on Sensitive Destinations. Whereas the national regulation only applies to motorways and provincial roads, Amsterdam has made the decision to also apply it to inner city roads.59 Minimum distances between planned constructions and roads always apply in Amsterdam, unlike in the national regulations, where the distance may be reduced if the number of people exposed to air pollution does not increase.
57 Sources: https://www.luchtmeetnet.nl/; RIVM (2014). Luchtkwaliteitsindex. Aanbevelingen voor de samenstelling en duiding. 58 http://wetten.overheid.nl/BWBR0025181/2015-07-01 59 https://www.amsterdam.nl/parkeren-verkeer/luchtkwaliteit/beleid-regelgeving/lokale-richtlijn/
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Climate change
In the past, climate change policy in the Netherlands has tended to be more ambitious than European targets. However, presently it only aims at fulfilling the EU targets and is lagging behind on certain aspects– in particular in the implementation of renewable energy, where the Netherlands is one of the countries with the lowest implementation rates in Europe60.
Whereas Governmental assessments claim that emission reduction is in line with the 20% greenhouse gas emission reduction target for 2020, the NGO ‘Urgenda’ together with concerned citizens filed a court case against the State of the Netherlands for not putting in place sufficient policy measures to reach longer term EU climate targets of 80-95% emissions reductions by 2050.
Climate court case61
In June 2015 the Dutch Court sided with Urgenda (a Dutch foundation aiming to accelerate sustainability in the Netherlands) who had initiated a Court case to force the Dutch government to cut CO2 emissions by 25% by 2020 (compared to 1990 levels). Achieving this would require the Dutch government to adopt more stringent and effective climate policies. The case was backed by nine hundred co-plaintiffs, who demanded a CO2 reduction target of 40%, and was won by the NGO and the citizens in first reading. This was the first time that a judge has legally required a State to take precautions against climate change and can therefore serve other climate cases around the world. The lawsuit is still ongoing as the State has appealed against the verdict.
Climate change currently receives much attention in the public debate in the Netherlands. Discussions centre around meeting the 2015 Paris climate agreement targets. The energy sector is particularly important in the debate, where the depletion of the Dutch domestic gas reserves that have dominated energy supply in the Netherlands for many decades, has opened up the possibilities for change. This holds in particular because the depleting reserves at the main gas field in the North of the Netherlands in recent years have caused several small earthquakes that have damaged buildings62. Citizens in the affected region have claimed damage relief funds and are asking for a faster energy transition away from gas. In October 2016, 76 municipalities – including Amsterdam - have signed a manifesto to strive towards becoming ‘gas-free’ municipalities63.
As coal power plants are also heavily contested in the Netherlands, and nuclear and onshore wind do not have much public support either, the government has now announced ambitious plans to expand electricity generation through offshore wind farms64. In addition, there is some financial support for local, small-scale, renewable energy generation. As a result, many local energy cooperatives have been founded in which citizens – in various
60 EC (2015). Renewable energy progress report, COM(2015) 293 final 61 Urgenda (2015). Press release 24 June September 2015 62 https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/onderwerpen/aardbevingen-in-groningen/inhoud/aardbevingen-door-gaswinning-in-groningen 63 https://www.hierverwarmt.nl/manifest 64 SER (2016). Factsheet Wind op Zee, Economische aspecten
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degrees of professionality – sell electricity from PV panels or wind turbines to the grid. However, whereas expansion rates of this ‘decentral capacity’ are very high (50% in 2016), its total capacity currently is still very small (0.1 GW, compared to 31.5 GW total electricity generation capacity in the Netherlands)65.
Energy cooperatives66
In 2016, the number of registered energy cooperatives in the Netherlands grew from 262 to 313. Total installed generation capacity of these energy cooperatives increased over the last year by 50% to 138 MW. Some 50 000 people in the Netherlands are presently members of an energy cooperative. Cooperatives increasingly cooperate with professional partners in the sale of energy. They are mostly active in solar and wind energy, but also have activities in the resale of energy (65%), energy efficiency (70%) and the collective acquirement of solar panels (30%).
Important elements of Dutch climate policies include:
The National Climate Agenda
In 2013 the Ministry of IenM established the ‘Climate Agenda: Resilient, Prosperous and Green’67. This Agenda offers a policy framework towards a sustainable and prosperous economy by 2030 by explaining how the government should deal with climate mitigation and adaptation. The agenda aims at building broad coalitions in society on climate adaptation and mitigation. For this purpose, eight lines of action have been formulated. One of these actions is promotion of an ‘Energetic Society’ in which citizens take climate action themselves supported by Government. This support consists for instance of the formation of societal coalitions with for instance the ‘Dutch Sustainable Growth Coalition’ (Dutch companies), the ‘C40 Cities Initiative’ (cities worldwide), the ‘Climate Resistant City Initiative’ (Dutch cities for climate adaptation) and the ‘Climate Ambassadors’ (local and regional politicians that promote climate action). Another action is the promotion of sustainable mobility, including the provision of infrastructure for electric transport, analysis of the optimal future fuel mix and public-private cooperation in transport innovations.
Local Climate Action Programme
Local climate related policies in the Netherlands are united under the umbrella of the so-called Local Climate Action Programme (‘Lokaal Klimaat Actieprogramma’). This programme links Dutch local policies in the area of climate action to national and international frameworks, for instance agendas and agreements of the United Nations and the European
65 Hier Opgewekt (2016) Lokale energiemonitor 66 Hier Opgewekt (2016). Gezamenlijke productie energiecoöperaties stijgt in met ruim 50%, Persbericht 67 Ministry IenM (2013) Klimaatagenda: weerbaar, welvarend en groen, The Hague
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Union.68 It supports local governments with the setting up and execution of the climate policies towards the climate neutral goal set for 2050. Elements of the programme include, for instance, climate neutral cities, finance, adaptation and mobility. A team of ‘Climate Ambassadors’ supports the Local Climate Action Programme.
The Energy Agreement
The Energy Agreement consists of an agreement signed in 2013 by forty parties (including central, regional and local government, employers and unions, nature conservation and environmental organisations, plus other civil society organisations and financial institutions) outlined the basis for a robust and future-proof energy and climate policy.69 This agreement contains targets for renewable energy (14% in 2020, 16% in 2023), energy savings (1.5% per year) and jobs (15 000 new jobs in the sustainable energy sector). Municipalities across the Netherlands have an important role in facilitating the Agreement by enforcing the Environmental Management Act as well as by fostering energy-efficient renovations in the public real estate.70
Green Deals
The Green Deals71 are specific agreements between the government and organisations, civil society and local governments to tackle the regulatory, market and innovation barriers that organisations and civil society face when trying to make a certain step towards sustainability.72 The government primarily provides support through the removal of barriers concerning its (policy) tools, and offering knowledge or expertise. It is not meant as a financial instrument. A recent evaluation by the Ministry of Economic Affairs concludes that the Green Deals of the government are a success.73 As a result of over two hundred Green Deals, thousands of homes and businesses have become more energy efficient, transport has become cleaner and tens of thousands of Dutch households were provided with renewable energy from waste heat or from renewable electricity grids. A recent Green Deal is the agreement signed on 15 April 2016 between the national government, all Dutch provinces and transport companies to ensure that from 2025 all new buses in the Dutch public transport network will be CO2 emissions-free (i.e. electric or hydrogen-powered).74
68 http://www.rwsleefomgeving.nl/onderwerpen/lokaal_klimaatbeleid/bestuurlijke/ 69 http://www.rwsleefomgeving.nl/onderwerpen/lokaal_klimaatbeleid/bestuurlijke/ser-energieakkoord/ 70 Sociaal Economische Raad (2013). Energieakkoord voor duurzame groei. 71 Not to be confused with the Green Deal scheme for energy efficiency and saving measures for properties in in the UK 72 https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/onderwerpen/duurzame-economie/inhoud/green-deal 73 https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/actueel/nieuws/2016/06/30/evaluatie-green-deals-succesvolle-aanjager-groei-en-vergroening-economie 74 https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/onderwerpen/luchtkwaliteit/nieuws/2016/04/15/nederlands-ov-stapt-over-op-100-procent-uitstootvrije-bussen
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3.5. Discussion Amsterdam air quality and climate policies are affected by national and international regulatory agreements, policies and frameworks. In the field of air quality, European standards have set the way for Dutch policies. Without the obligation to meet these standards, the Dutch derogation request in the early 2000s suggests that national air quality policies would have been less ambitious. European – rather than Dutch – standards are also often referred to in local policy documents in Amsterdam, and not meeting these targets everywhere in the city is one reason why an Amsterdam based NGO, together with citizens, took the government to court (see the next chapter). Current WHO guidelines also play a role on a local level. They are stricter than the EU standards but not legally binding. Nevertheless, they are used to support the local ambitions of Amsterdam to go beyond the EU standards.
In the climate field, Dutch national policies were initially more ambitious than the EU targets. However, recent governments have reduced these ambitions to only meeting the EU targets. While the Netherlands seem to be on the road towards meeting the EU 2020 target, it has nevertheless been challenged in court to take further steps. To the surprise of many, and causing much public debate, this court case in first reading has been successful for the NGO and citizens that initiated it.
Air quality policies in the Netherlands are currently promoted in terms of their contribution to ‘health’ and to ‘climate change’. This framing seems to suggest that air quality as a policy topic has become somewhat subordinate to climate change. Whilst overall health impacts are stressed in the communication about air pollution at a national level, these are subject to public discussion mainly in relation to local policy measures (e.g. speed limits around cities) and do not seem to get high public attention in the media.
National climate change policies are mainly framed around their importance to the global climate. The current national discussion focuses on the implementation of the Paris Agreement targets. However, on a local level the impacts to citizens of policies at a direct level (energy, transport) are sometimes stressed, as is the case in Amsterdam (see the next chapter).
Looking specifically into the role of citizens in Dutch air quality and climate change policies, they are not a major target group directly addressed by current policies. Whilst, in the past, national awareness campaigns have been run to make people aware of their impacts on the environment, presently no such campaigns are under way. Rather, current government policies have a profoundly liberal framing, stressing the own responsibility of citizens for climate and air quality action in an ‘Energetic Society’. The emergence and quick growth of energy cooperatives in the Netherlands, as well as citizens measuring their own air quality on a local scale (see the next chapter) can be seen as fitting very well into this framing.
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4. Air quality and climate change policies in Amsterdam
This chapter outlines policy making in the fields of air quality and climate change in the city of Amsterdam. The chapter starts by describing pollutant concentration and emission trends in Amsterdam (Section 4.1), then discusses the governance structure of air quality and climate change policy in the city (4.2). Subsequently, the main Amsterdam air quality and climate change policies are examined (4.3), as well as initiatives taken by citizens and other stakeholders (4.4). These findings are then discussed in section (4.5).
4.1. Pollutant concentration and emission trends in Amsterdam
The Municipality in Amsterdam actively measures air quality concentrations in the city. As such, there is relatively detailed data available for concentrations of several pollutants75. The sources of air pollution and CO2 emissions are also relatively well known.
Air quality concentration trends
Over the period 2011 to 2015, the Amsterdam air quality measurement network showed that PMx and NOx concentrations decreased. Recently, Amsterdam also added measurements of black carbon/soot76 at two locations to the measurement network, but the results so far are inconclusive77.
PM10 concentrations are measured at six locations in the city. In 2011 the annual mean concentrations at these locations varied from 19-24 µg/m3. In 2015 PM10 concentrations at these locations were between 14-20 µg/m378. This is substantially lower than the European limit value for concentrations (40 µg/m3, annual mean). Similarly, PM2.5 concentrations in 2011 varied between 17-21 µg/m3 at 5 locations, whereas in 2015 the concentrations at these locations had decreased to 11-16 µg/m3 (European limit value for PM2.5 concentrations is 25 µg/m3, annual mean) 79. Although these concentrations comply with the EU limit values, they are still partly higher than the WHO guidelines set (20 µg/m3 and 10 µg/m3 annual mean respectively)80.
NO2 concentrations in Amsterdam were also lower in 2015 than in 2011.81 The measurements at the monitoring locations easily comply with European standards (24-32 µg/m3, compared to the EU limit values and WHO guidelines of 40 µg/m3 and 25 µg/m3 respectively). Nevertheless, three out of five traffic exposed locations show concentrations
75 NO2, NO, O3, PM10, PM2.5, soot, benzene, toluene, CO, SO2, Hydrogen Sulfide (H2S), Ultra Final Particles (UFP) and NH3 76 Black carbon and soot in this report interchangeably. 77 Gemeente Amsterdam (2016). Monitor Uitvoeringsprogramma Duurzaam Amsterdam 78 Gemeente Amsterdam (2016). Amsterdam in cijfers 2016 79 Ibid. 80 See section 3.1 of this report 81 Ibid.
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above the EU limit values and WHO guidelines still in 2015 (Figure 4-1). Measurements of these particles collected by an NGO together with local citizens also show exceedance. However, these measurements are not official and therefore have no legal status82.
Figure 4-1 Trends in NO2 concentrations in the streets of Amsterdam 2011-201583
Amsterdam was the first city in the Netherlands to start to monitor soot (in 2012) arguing that soot is “a significantly better indicator of the health benefits of a cleaner air”.84 After an important decrease from 2012 to 2013, and subsequent stagnation, the prognosis is that soot concentrations will follow a similar decrease to those of NO2. The reason for this decrease has been attributed to improved traffic flow through measures such as optimising the location of traffic lights and rethinking the places were trucks perform their loading and unloading activities (blocking traffic).
Table 4.1: Soot concentrations in Amsterdam 2012-2015 (g m3) 85
Year 2012 2013 2014 2015
Soot 1.25 1.00 1.03 1.03
The main sources of air pollution in the Amsterdam region are traffic (road and ‘other’, including air) (in particular for NO2) and international shipping (Figure 4-2). Furthermore, an important part of the background concentration originates in other countries. For PM10, a large proportion of emissions has a natural background, e.g. sea salt.
82 See section 4.4 of this report 83 Gemeente Amsterdam (2016). Amsterdam in cijfers 2016 84 Gemeente Amsterdam (2016). Monitor Uitvoeringsprogramma Duurzaam Amsterdam 85 Ibid.
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Figure 4-2: Concentrations of air pollutants in the Amsterdam-Haarlem Region in 2015 (g m-3)86
Limit values and health87
An interview with the Amsterdam health service pointed to the tension between limit values and health in the air quality policy debate. The Dutch Health Institute RIVM estimated that in 2013 exposure to PMx led to an average decrease in life expectancy of 9 months life and to 4.5 million days of work absences because of illness. Exposure to NOx led to an extra decrease in life expectancy of 4 months .
Limit values help to get policy attention when concentrations exceed limits at certain locations, in particular when policy makers are made aware of these hotspots by concerned citizens. At the same time limit values also invite strategic action from policy makers: if these values are exceeded on one street and concentrations are below the limit on another street, a potential response could be to divert traffic from one location to the other. As result, both streets will comply with the limit values, but concentrations will be higher than before in the latter. Furthermore, once limit values are met, policy attention decreases - despite the fact that there are no ‘safe’ emission levels below which there are no health impacts. However, concentrations of air pollutants below the limit values are still having a negative impact on health. Therefore, regular adaptation of limit values could be a solution. Finally, noise, and its impact on health is currently an underestimated problem which receives very low political attention.
86 RIVM (2016). Grootschalige concentratie- en depositiekaarten Nederland: Rapportage 2016 87 Interview with GGD Amsterdam on 28 September 2016
012345678
NO2
PM10
PM2,5
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Greenhouse gas emission trends
Households and transport are both responsible for around 20% of CO2 emissions in Amsterdam, compared to 60% resulting from business and industry88. Whereas emissions from business and industry are slightly decreasing over time (1.5% between 2011 and 2015), those of households and transport are increasing (by 6% and 4% respectively over the same period) (Figure 4-3).
Figure 4-3: CO2 emissions by source in Amsterdam 2011-2015 (ktonnes)89
An average household in the Netherlands (consisting of 2.2 persons), emits 23 tonnes of CO2, of which 8 tonnes are direct emissions from in-house energy use and from transport. Apart from those direct emissions, there are also indirect CO2 emissions caused by food consumption, clothing, interior design, indirect transport emissions (e.g. for producing a car), leisure and study (Table 4-2). The latter emissions, however, are not part of investigation in the ClairCity project. Older figures for Amsterdam (2013) suggest an overall direct CO2 emission per citizen of 4.4 tonnes/year90. However, it is unclear to what extent the methodologies used differ.
88 Ibid. 89 Ibid. 90 Gemeente Amsterdam (2014). CO2-uitstootrapportage 2013
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Transport
Households
Business & Industry
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Table 4-2: Average CO2 emissions per household in the Netherlands 91
CO2 emissions average household (2.2 persons)
Tonnes CO2/year Tonnes CO2/year
Energy in house 4.1
- Gas 3.0
- Electricity 1.1
Transport 5.6
- Car 4.0
- Air 1.4
- Public Transport 0.2
Food 5.6
- Animal products 1.9
- Plant products 2.3
- Other, incl. Restaurants 1.3
Clothing and Personal Care 1.8
House and Interior 3.3
Leisure and Study 2.4
TOTAL 23
Some relevant underlying statistics for CO2 emissions specifically by households in Amsterdam are92:
• Some 4.8% of total energy use of Amsterdam is generated by renewable energy sources (electricity from the Amsterdam Waste Energy Company (AEB) (71%), district heating from waste (10%), wind (18%) and solar (1%))
• The number of solar panels in Amsterdam is increasing rapidly. The number of locations with solar panels increased from 603 locations in 2008 to 2 049 locations in 2013. Together, these locations cover some 0.2% of total electricity use in Amsterdam;
• The number of hybrid and electric vehicles (cars and scooters) increased by 146% from 2013 to 2015. In particular, the number of electric/hybrid private cars increased rapidly (by 412%). However, the share of these vehicles is still small, i.e. 1.7% hybrid, 1% fully electric.
91 MilieuCentraal (2015). Factsheet Klimaatverandering 92 Gemeente Amsterdam (2015). De Staat van de Stad Amsterdam, VIII
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4.2. Governance of air quality and climate change in Amsterdam
Several organisations together are responsible for the governance of air quality and climate change in Amsterdam.
From a political perspective, the key organisation in charge is the Municipal Council, with the College of Mayor and Aldermen as its executive body. One of the Aldermen is responsible for sustainability93. Health care and transport are attributed to other Aldermen, however. The city is divided into seven districts (previously sub-municipalities, or ‘deelgemeentes’). Certain tasks - such as planning of streets and squares, greenery and parks; household waste; and wellbeing in the neighbourhood - are delegated to the seven district Board Committees (Figure 4-4).
Figure 4-4: Governance structure of Amsterdam94
In the current council period (2014-2018) the coalition of liberal-democrats (D66), liberals (VVD) and socialists (SP) in their agreement stress the liberty of citizens to make their own choices as a key strength of Amsterdam95. Under the title ‘Amsterdam is for Everyone’, the coalitions had promised a reduction in bureaucratic rules and lower taxes. Sustainability ambitions are presented in a chapter on ‘New Energy’. Administratively, the coalition has promised to unite all activities in the field of sustainability into one ‘Sustainability Office’.
93 Currently Mr Abdeluheb Choho (D66) 94 Gemeente Amsterdam website 95 D66, VVD, SP (2014). Amsterdam is van iedereen. Coalitieakkoord 2014-2018
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The Sustainability Office acts as a central administrative body responsible for all sustainability policies, including air quality and climate change. It also is a point of contact for Amsterdam inhabitants and businesses. It monitors progress, identifies new opportunities, establishes relationships with partners and other authorities, and lobbies with other bodies such as the central government and the provinces (for example to improve the conditions of sustainable investments and projects in Amsterdam)96. In addition, a Sustainability Council (formerly Climate Council) consisting of companies, knowledge institutes, NGOs and umbrella organisations supports the College of Mayor and Alderpersons with recommendations on policy and implementation in the area of sustainability.97
Regarding climate action the City Director of Operations is responsible for implementation of the Municipality ‘CO2 Neutral Roadmap’.98 The Programmabureau Luchtkwaliteit and the GGD (Public Health Service Amsterdam) are in charge of the administrative and research part of air quality policy, the latter as part of its public health responsibilities. GGD is also responsible for the air quality monitoring network in Amsterdam (Figure 4-5).
The Amsterdam air quality monitoring network
Amsterdam is, next to Rotterdam, the only city in the Netherlands that manages its own monitoring network. It consists of 12 monitoring stations (see Figure 4-5), out of which 6 also measure PM99. These stations are located at different places (e.g. busy streets, places off the road, building façades) according to requirements stipulated by Dutch law. In addition to the 12 automatic monitoring stations, nitrogen dioxide is measured with passive sampling at 106 locations in Amsterdam.100 This network has been instrumental in defending 80 km/h speed limits on the Amsterdam urban motorways against national political opposition, as well as in identifying the main local air quality hotspots101.
Figure 4-5: Location of the 12 air quality measuring stations of the GGD in Amsterdam102
96 Municipality of Amsterdam (2015). Sustainable Amsterdam, Agenda for renewable energy, clear air, a circular economy and a climate- resilient city 97 Ibid. 98 Ibid. 99 http://www.ggd.amsterdam.nl/gezond-wonen/meetnet/ 100 Interview with GGD Amsterdam on 28 September 2016 101 GGD (2013) Luchtkwaliteit A10-West: Analyse metingen, effect snelheidsverhoging, 30 oktober 2013 102 Gemeente Amsterdam (2016). Amsterdam in cijfers 2016
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4.3. Air quality and climate change policies in Amsterdam Air quality and climate change policies in Amsterdam are part of the Amsterdam Sustainability Agenda, which was published in 2015 (see Figure 4-6)103. In this agenda, an integral picture of Amsterdam sustainability policies is given. In the communication, Amsterdam policy makers stress the perspective of independent citizens, a pragmatic ‘hands-on’ approach and a municipality that has a mainly ‘supportive’ role104:
(…) “Amsterdam has so much to be proud of. We are a city bursting with thinkers, go-getters, techies, inventors, entrepreneurs and ‘ordinary’ citizens eager to devote their time, creativity and effort to building a sustainable city.”
(…) “The real challenge now is to go beyond developing new visions and scenarios and to pragmatically engage with our city. This Agenda barely touches on the urgency of global issues. These are familiar and evident. Instead, we set goals for the foreseeable future and consider what we, and not the generations after us, need to do to achieve those goals now.”
(…) “Through these efforts, the municipality has a modest yet important role to fulfil. We must eliminate obstructive regulations, but must set clear standards as well. We need to intervene if financial parties fail to fund promising initiatives and innovations. When Amsterdam citizens and their organisations and businesses seek information and support, we must be available and accessible. We must provide a platform for emerging pioneers. And last but not least, our municipal organisation must transform from an underachiever into a front runner.”
The framing of Amsterdam policies as illustrated by the above quotes from the Amsterdam Sustainability Agenda also implies that no specific awareness campaigns are carried out. Neither are specific groups of citizens addressed, with the exception of the ‘energy poor’, for which an ‘Energy Bank’ will now be initiated (see text box).
103 Gemeente Amsterdam (2015). Duurzaam Amsterdam. Agenda voor duurzame energie, schone lucht, een circulaire economie en een klimaatbestendige stad 104 Ibid.
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Figure 4-6: Main targets of the Amsterdam Sustainability Agenda105
However, despite the ‘liberal perspective’ that is stressed, in practice Amsterdam policies also include several non-voluntary measures, such as the installation of ‘Environmental Zones’, from which certain transport categories are excluded106. Also, there are infrastructural and spatial planning measures that have a more regulatory character, such as the building decree on ‘sensitive locations’, restricting the construction of schools and elderly residences close to busy roads.
Energy Bank107
The Energy Bank is a private non for profit pilot project in the municipality of Arnhem that now wants to expand its activities to Amsterdam. Participants can donate money, energy or time (volunteer work). Households suffering from energy poverty can apply for support, which includes a six-month discount on their energy bill and three interviews with an energy coach that helps to identify energy saving measures.
In the Sustainability Agenda, five key policy topics are identified, each with its own targets:
• Energy; • Clean Air; • Circular Economy; • A Climate Resistant City; and • A Sustainable Municipal Organisation.
105 Ibid. 106 Lorries with less than Euro 4, vans built before the year 2000, taxis built before 2009, buses built before 2005, mopeds built before 2011 are not to enter the environmental zone, which is roughly the city centre of Amsterdam. Diesel cars older than 2005 and petrol cars older than 1992 will not get new parking permits. 107 Gemeenteraad Amsterdam (2016). Initiatiefvoorstel Energiebank, 13 May 2016
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The key topics relevant for air quality and climate change policies in Amsterdam are ‘Energy’ and ‘Clean Air’. Under the latter heading, it is mainly transport policies that are listed. The other policy topics sometimes touch upon air quality and climate change relevant issues, such as trees, parks and green roofs for climate adaptation under the heading of ‘A Climate Resistant City’.
The Municipality has also set up a Sustainability Fund in order to provide low-interest loans to citizens, businesses and societal organisations who want to implement projects that contribute to the objectives of the Sustainability Agenda. The Fund was established from the profits of the privatisation of the regional energy company NUON, of which the municipality was one of the main shareholders. The fund amounts to €40 million which is earmarked for energy and circular economy related projects108.
Energy For Energy, the main targets by 2020 are 20% more renewable energy generation and 20% less energy use than in 2013.109 More specific targets in the fields of energy include a large upscaling of PV panels for households, improved energy efficiency in existing buildings (e.g. through insulation), and zero energy buildings, as well as a large increase of the number of properties connected to district heating. Recently, the city also announced the ambition to become a ‘gas free city’ by 2050 (Table 4-3).
Table 4-3: Specific Amsterdam targets related to energy
Targeted sector Measures and targets
Energy - 1 000 zero energy houses - Local electricity generation from PV panels up from 5 000 to 80 000
households - Locally produced wind energy provided to at least 12 000 households - 75% of new constructions energy neutral until 2020 - Social housing upgrade to at least Energy Level B - 102 000 district heating connections by 2020 (currently 63 000) - Stimulate energy efficient renovations of the existing building stock
between 2015 to 2025 - Between 2012 and 2025, the municipality’s CO2 emissions will be
reduced by 45% - A gas free city in 2050
Whereas participation in solar electricity or wind energy generation is voluntary, the district heating network will impact on the freedom of choice of citizens for instance, the choice of
108 https://www.amsterdam.nl/wonen-leefomgeving/duurzaam-amsterdam/duurzaamheidsfonds/duurzaamheidsfonds/ 109 Gemeente Amsterdam (2015). Duurzaam Amsterdam. Agenda voor duurzame energie, schone lucht, een circulaire economie en een klimaatbestendige stad
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energy provider or, when there is no gas anymore, the choice of how to cook. In a country and city used to gas supply for heating and cooking, district heating in the past was not always received positively, but now might get a more positive reception due to its contribution to sustainability.
Transport Clean air policies in Amsterdam are framed in a ‘health perspective’ 110:
(…) “The current measures regarding air quality mainly aim to comply with national and European standards. We will push the bar higher, shifting the focus from ‘standards’ to ‘health’. Distinguishing ‘healthy’ from ‘unhealthy’ will no longer just be determined by what our measurement points indicate: we will also examine the real health effects on the individual Amsterdam inhabitant. For example, how is the air quality for a person cycling behind a two-stroke scooter?”
Clean Air measures are mainly directed at transport. Key targets formulated in the Sustainability Agenda are 30% reduction of soot concentrations and 35% less NO2 due to cleaner transport in 2025111. These targets will be achieved by continuing to apply the current package of measures for NO2, and by introducing a new package of measures to accelerate emission reduction (Table 4-4). The measures will be implemented in line with those of the Implementation Agenda Mobility (‘Uitvoeringsagenda Mobiliteit’) of 30 September 2015, which also aims at improving traffic flows in the city112.
Table 4-4 Specific Amsterdam targets related to transport
Targeted sector Main measures and targets
Transport - Environmental or low-emission zones for transport (‘milieuzones’) - Emission-free public transport by 2025 - Emission-free municipal vehicle fleet by 2025 - 4 000 public charging stations for electric vehicles by 2018 - 2 additional cargo/freight hubs - A ‘Cleaner Parking Plan’
Amsterdam has the ambition to become the first city in both the Netherlands and in Europe to have an emission-free (at point-of-use) public transport system by 2025.113 The City therefore aims at all vehicles owned by the Municipality of Amsterdam (e.g. ferries) to be
110 Gemeente Amsterdam (2015). Duurzaam Amsterdam. Agenda voor duurzame energie, schone lucht, een circulaire economie en een klimaatbestendige stad 111 Gemeente Amsterdam (2015). Duurzaam Amsterdam. Agenda voor duurzame energie, schone lucht, een circulaire economie en een klimaatbestendige stad 112 Gemeente Amsterdam (2015). Uitvoeringsagenda mobiliteit 113 City of Amsterdam (February 2016). Clean Air for Amsterdam: Set of Measures Towards an emission-free 2025
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clean and emission-free by 2025 and has signed an agreement with the Municipal Transport Company (GVB) to make all buses emission-free by that time too.114
Electric vehicles, with particular focus on frequent road users (i.e. taxis, delivery vans, Large Good Vehicles (LGVs) are an important priority of the city as well. The city has already implemented air quality measures aimed at stimulating electric vehicles through subsidies and new charging points. There are also several actions planned for the near future, ranging from creating ‘environmental zones’ (for vans, taxis, coaches, mopeds and trucks), to introducing parking regulations that only allow ‘cleaner’ cars to get a parking permit. The city also provides charging infrastructure, with the aim of expanding the number of EV charging stations from the current 2 000, to 4 000 in 2018. Together with Oslo Amsterdam is competing for the best infrastructure for E-vehicles in Europe.
Whilst the electrification of public and private transport does not set new limits to the daily behaviour and practices of citizens (or rather provides opportunities for new practices) , the introduction of low-emission zones in the city is likely to impede the existing behaviour and practices of citizens. This holds in particular for the owners of older cars, which will no longer receive new parking permits in the ‘environmental zones’, and for drivers of older scooters, that will no longer be allowed access to the ‘environmental zones’. Other planned zones with less direct impact on citizen behaviour are those for delivery vans, for taxis and coaches, and for trucks (Figure 4-7). Unlike other large cities in the Netherlands such as Rotterdam and Utrecht, Amsterdam has no ‘environmental zones’ for controlling passenger cars, as the City Council decided in 2009 that this measure would be less cost effective than other zones115.
Figure 4-7: Implementation timeframe for environmental zones116
Cycling is at the core of Amsterdam and its transport infrastructure, and its advantages are clearly recognized by the City Council. However, the success of bikes as a key mode of transport in Amsterdam has also introduced new problems, with very busy cycling routes and a lack of bike shelters as core obstacles to further expansion. Therefore, cycling is further stimulated by the ‘Fietsplan 2012-2016’117 and the ‘Uitvoeringsagenda Mobiliteit’118 that will invest some €120 million in cycling by 2020 and in total €200 million by 2040. Key measures will be
114 City of Amsterdam (February 2016). Clean Air for Amsterdam: Set of Measures Towards an emission-free 2025 115 Het Parool (2009).Vraagtekens bij afblazen milieuzone Amsterdam, 30 May 2009 116 Ibid. 117 Gemeente Amsterdam (2012). Summary Long-term Bicycle Plan 2012-2016 118 Ibid.
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a) Reducing the number of parking spaces for cars in the city; b) Introducing bike priority and 30km zones on certain roads; c) Expanding the mileage of dedicated, ‘red’ cycling lanes at roads by 15 km; and d) Building more bike shelters. The aim is to build 38 000 extra bike parking spaces at
shelters by 2020.
Out of these measures, the bike shelters are clearly the most expensive measure: they will cost €170 million of the €200 million to be invested. However, building such shelters in particular near to stations is considered a key measure to improve overall public transport mobility. The aim is also to improve the usability and user-friendliness of the shelters, by making them free on the first day of use, and simultaneously limit overall use to 7 or 14 consecutive days (after which a bike will be removed).
Current cycling problems in Amsterdam
“Amsterdam residents wanting to park their bikes at Central or Amstel Station spend a great deal of time trying to locate a suitable and safe place, and out of frustration eventuallyleave their bikes parked against a tree or chained to a bridge railing because of the lack of racks. The situation around Central Station is so out of control that the area is now worse than the average disorganised messy public space. If we do not intervene, the way bicycles are parked will cause serious accessibility problems.
More than 1 500 cyclists use the busiest routes in the evening rush hour between 16:00 and 18:00; over 3 500 cyclists pass through the Weteringschans alone. The cycle lanes and paths in the city are too narrow to safely accommodate this enormous stream of cyclists and busy intersections become congested. A third of cycling accidents happen on one of these busy routes (15% of the total cycle network).
The problem is not the huge number of cyclists – after all this should be regarded as a victory for the city – but the shortage of a good cycling infrastructure. The construction of additional facilities has lagged behind the increasing bicycle use.” 119
Regional Cooperation Amsterdam is involved in several regional consultative bodies in the field of air quality and climate change, including voluntary partnerships such as the Covenant of Mayors, in which cities all over the world have united in order to undertake climate action.120 Formally, Amsterdam is part of the province of North Holland and of the Metropolitan Region Amsterdam (MRA). Amsterdam is also part owner of the Schiphol international airport and of the Port of Amsterdam Harbour Company. Both have their own goals regarding CO2 emissions reduction and sustainability. In the harbour these comprise a reduction of CO2 emissions by 25%, as well as stimulation of inland water transport (instead of road transport)
119 Ibid. 120 http://www.covenantofmayors.eu/about/signatories_en.html?city_id=280&overview
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and of the environmental certification of sea shipments121. Schiphol has set targets to use 100% renewable energy, to reduce waste production to zero by 2030, to stimulate electric transport and to investigate the consequences of ultra-fine particulate matter (PM<0.1)122.
The Metropolitan Region is particularly important regarding climate adaptation and water policies – in terms of ensuring appropriate defence in the face of sea storms as well as from a water supply point of view in the face of droughts.123 The actions taken by the MRA in this regard involve:
• The development of a regional plan for water storage, water safety, water quality and for action in the face of disasters;
• Improvements of water storage facilities so that they can better capture heavy rains; and,
• Research and innovation for fresh water supply.
Next to this, the MRA, as part of its Amsterdam Metropolitan Region Sustainability Agenda Execution (‘Uitvoeringsagenda Duurzaamheid MRA’), also aims to generate energy savings and accelerate energy transitions in the region. It does so by fostering regional agreements on energy that contribute to the national energy accord (Energieakkoord) and Energy Atlas (Energieatlas) and by setting up pilots for flexible energy systems such as smart grids. Actions comprise five areas: bio-based economy, mobility, smart grids, district heating and the built environment124. The Amsterdam Economic Board, a cooperation between the municipality, knowledge institutes and business directed at stimulating sustainable innovation, also operates at metropolitan level.
The relation of the Municipality with the Province of North Holland is particularly important for its spatial planning implications. The Provincial Council has the responsibility for the optimal siting of wind turbines in the Province. Recently, this has led to impediments to Amsterdam’s plans for the siting of additional wind turbines in the city.125 In the summer of 2016, the Province rejected 18 out of 28 planned new wind turbines in Amsterdam because they did not comply with the Provincial regulation that wind turbines have to be erected in a single line and at a distance of at least 600 metres from houses.126
4.4. Citizen and stakeholder initiatives in Amsterdam Many citizen and stakeholder initiatives have arisen in recent years in Amsterdam that relate to activities in either the energy or the transport sector. There are also a number of citizen activities specifically on air quality monitoring.
121 https://www.portofamsterdam.com/nl/havenbedrijf/duurzaamheid-toekomstbestendige-metropoolhaven-voor-klanten-en-omgeving 122 Schiphol Airport (2016). Corporate Responsibility Brochure, September 2016 123 MRA, 2016. Ruimtelijk-Economische Actie – Agenda 2016-2020 124 http://www.metropoolregioamsterdam.nl/----duurzaamheid/projecten 125 Wind turbines, as generators of renewable energy source, are important for ClairCity for they help climate change mitigation and contribute to air quality improvement 126 http://www.parool.nl/amsterdam/provincie-wijst-meeste-plannen-amsterdamse-windmolens-af~a4353799/
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What does it require to be an active citizen?127
Citizen activism in the fields of air quality and climate change requires many efforts. According to an interview with an active Amsterdam citizen, it requires a long-term vision and spending a great deal of time on the issue; particularly, if perceived ‘policy failures’ in the city are to be addressed, such as air quality hotspots. Conditions for successful activism in such cases include perseverance, well developed networks, linking problems to wider city policy challenges, and developing and promoting citizens’ own policy solutions. Also, activists need to be very assertive, and willing and able to invest much time and effort into such activities.
In the field of energy, there are many projects that involve smart grid development, cooperation between citizens to exchange and optimise the use of renewable energy, and technological experiments that involve e.g. exchange between electric car or boat batteries and domestic renewable energy generation for instance from PV128. Also, there are many innovative smart metering applications offered for sale to citizens. Furthermore, there are several renewable energy cooperatives active in Amsterdam which were founded by groups of citizens that have become entrepreneurs using part of the electricity generated themselves and selling the surplus to the grid129, including the cooperative ‘Wij krijgen kippen’ (‘We get chickens…’) in Amsterdam South (see box text below).
Wij krijgen kippen130
Under the unusual name of ‘Wij krijgen kippen’ (‘We get chicken’), a group of citizens of the Amsterdam South neighbourhood started in 2011 an initiative with the aim ‘to become the cleanest and most comfortable neighbourhood of the Netherlands’. The group focused in particular on energy projects, and at present the initiative hosts some 50 projects in the neighbourhood, mostly dedicated to increasing renewable energy generation or improving energy efficiency. The initiative actively seeks to disseminate the knowledge that it has gained over five years of activity, and to encourage other citizens to participate. Other Amsterdam city renewable energy cooperatives are shown on the map below.
127 Interview with an Amsterdam citizen engaged in air quality measuring, 28 september 2016 128 See e.g. https://amsterdamsmartcity.com/themes/energy-water-waste/projects 129 http://www.hieropgewekt.nl/actueel/lokale-energie-monitor-2016-gezamenlijke-productie-energiecooperaties-stijgt-met-ruim-50 130 www.wijkrijgenkippen.nl
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In the field of transport, there are a number of projects involving sharing concepts, traffic management systems, smart parking apps and e-mobility initiatives131. Sharing concepts like Blablacar or Uber often directly involve citizens that are linked via web based applications. Some of these initiatives are directed at bikers, such as ‘Smart Street Lighting’, a free smartphone app for citizens to manage street lighting in the Amsterdam harbour area. Via the app, cyclists can power the dimmed street lighting to 100% when passing. After that, the lighting is automatically dimmed again132. Another initiative is Urbee, directed at stimulating e-biking. However, like smart parking apps and e-mobility initiatives, these are predominantly commercial activities directed at citizens, rather than citizen initiative themselves.
A third category of activities is directed at awareness creation by direct local monitoring of air quality. This includes initiatives like Tree Wi-Fi, in which electronic bird houses indicate air quality and offer free Wi-Fi if the air quality is good.
TreeWifi133
TreeWiFi is a citizens’ initiative that aims to reduce air pollution in the city by creating greater awareness of air pollution. By designing small birdhouses equipped with sensors to detect the level of pollution in the air, TreeWiFi serves as a visual marker of how dirty or clean the environment is at a given time. Most importantly, it offers a concrete incentive for residents to remedy poor air quality. When the air quality improves, the birdhouse lights up in green and unlocks free Wi-Fi access. If the air stays polluted, the lights remain red, indicating that Wi-Fi is not available. The initiative has received wide international press coverage, but is still in the stage of crowd funding.
131 See e.g. https://amsterdamsmartcity.com/themes/mobility/projects 132 https://amsterdamsmartcity.com/projects/smart-street-lighting-powered-by-direct-current-at-port-of-amsterdam-4t01ug3 133 http://www.citylab.com/navigator/2016/06/amsterdam-clean-air-free-wifi-birdhouse/485771/
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Business and citizens
Many air quality, climate change or sustainability initiatives with citizen involvement in Amsterdam have a close relationship to business. Often, web-based platforms are used either to bring citizens together in networks or to make people aware of their use of environmental resources and thereby try to influence their behaviour. Sometimes such activities are started by individual local citizens, or groups of citizens, that in this way become entrepreneurs. On other occasions the initiative comes from innovative businesses and citizens are largely the target group of the innovation.
One such business and citizen related network is Amsterdam Smart City (ASC)134, the innovation platform of the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area, which is working with businesses, citizens, the municipality and knowledge institutes to test innovative ideas and solutions for urban issues. Areas in which ASC is active are Infrastructure & Technology; Energy, Water & Waste; Mobility; Circular City; Governance & Education; Citizens and Living.
NGOs and citizens
Often NGOs work closely with citizens. One example is ‘Milieudefensie’, the Dutch branch of Friends of the Earth, which is based in Amsterdam and is actively involved in the improvement of air pollution policy. Together with citizens, Milieudefensie has measured air pollution in 58 cities in the Netherlands. In Amsterdam, four hotspots were found in which NO2 concentrations were higher than the European standards: Stadhouderskade, Valkenburgerstraat, Nassaukade, Wiboutstraat)135. Based on these measurement results, Milieudefensie has now filed a law suit to the State of the Netherlands for neglect of EU air pollution standards136.
Language and the success of environmental narratives of NGOs
Language has been a very successful instrument in the strategy of Dutch environmental NGOs in recent years. With an extensive radio campaign, in 2012 the Dutch NGO ‘Wakker Dier’ - advocating animal rights - introduced the word ‘Plofkip’ into Dutch language. The word refers to broiler chickens in large industrial farms that are bred in a very short time for meat production, and in a very short time the word became a symbol for unsustainable meat production in the Netherlands. Similarly, the environmental NGO ‘Stichting Natuur en Milieu’ introduced the word ‘flexitariër’ (flexitarian) for someone that reduces meat consumption in the daily diet for environmental reasons, without becoming a vegetarian. The word is now generally used in Dutch language and an increasing number of people regards themselves ‘flexitariër’. With a similar aim, Friends of the Earth Netherlands introduced the word ‘rochelroute’ (‘gob route’) to draw attention to low air quality hotspots in cities.
134 www.AmsterdamSmartCity.com 135 Milieudefensie (2015). Wat ademen wij in? Resultaten meetcampagne 2015 136 NRC Handelsblad (2016). Milieudefensie daagt overheid vanwege luchtvervuiling, 2 August 2016
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4.5. Discussion Amsterdam city policy in the field of air quality is successful in the sense that in most places, it manages to meet the European limit values. However, some local hotspots remain. Greenhouse gas emissions are harder to monitor and have more global rather than local impacts. Local GHG reduction policies and targets are more ambitious than those on a national level. This has been consistent over several of the last municipal administrations in Amsterdam which have articulated climate ambitions, with the result that long-term targets were set. These allow for some continuity of policies and an expansion air quality and climate change related activities particularly in transport and energy in the years to come.
The policies are framed in line with national policies: a liberal perspective is prevalent, stressing responsibilities of individual citizens in society. Policy activities are mainly directed in support of stakeholder activities, including those of business, NGOs and citizens, by helping to connect them, and with removing barriers, setting standards and providing some financial support. For instance, citizen activities like the rise of independent renewable energy cooperatives are supported or, to a lesser extent, ‘citizen science’ – including air quality measurements by citizens. The municipality in its own words is taking a ‘modest role’. Its aim is to set short term targets and to have a look at what can be achieved now, rather than by future generations. No new visions or strategies have been announced, but a pragmatic view is taken – focusing on the implementation of existing policies rather than on new policies.
The liberal approach also means that there are hardly any awareness raising activities targeted at citizens on the city level, as in this political framing they would be regarded as too patronising. Aside from a few notable exceptions, air pollution policies in Amsterdam do not target specific groups of citizens. A limited number of activities are directed at reducing energy poverty, but this certainly is not a policy topic raising much public attention at the moment. Health issues related to air quality are stressed in air quality policy communication, but this does not yet translate into air quality and its impacts becoming part of the wider public debate. NGOs nevertheless stress the health effects of air quality in their campaigns.
Nevertheless, policies also sometimes include regulatory measures that influence or limit citizen behaviour directly and indirectly. This occurs particularly through the control and design of infrastructural elements, such as the expansion of pedestrian zones, provision of more bike shelters, introduction of ‘environmental zones’ for certain categories of traffic and setting conditions for parking permits related to car emissions. Also, some infrastructural measures in Amsterdam are particularly relevant for ClairCity’s vulnerable target groups of the elderly and school children. This holds in particular for the ‘Decision on Sensitive Locations’ which is applied more strictly in Amsterdam than in other municipalities in the Netherlands, thereby setting stringent conditions on the siting of any new school or housing project for elderly.
Finally, the integrated approach of including all sustainability policies in a single department that is applied in Amsterdam may help policy makers to put things in perspective and relate individual policies to citizens’ overall health and wellbeing. The communication approach of the city already includes ‘integration’ as well as ‘health’. However, the extent to which both aspects will actually be integrated into future city policies remains to be seen.
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5. Conclusions This chapter presents and discusses the main findings of this report, first in terms of lessons learned regarding citizen-inclusive policies (Section 5.1), then in terms of consequences for future work in the ClairCity project (5.2).
5.1. Citizen- inclusive Amsterdam policies In Chapter 1 of this report, eight questions were asked as a guideline for the research towards citizen-orientated policies. These refer to the current roles of citizens in policy making, the leeway that local policy makers have within the realms of national and international policy making, and general factors in the success or failure of policymaking.
Roles of citizens in policy making
1. What is the role of citizens and other stakeholders in air quality and climate change policies at national and local levels?
2. What specific behaviours and practices of citizens are encouraged or discouraged by air quality and climate related policies?
3. In what way do policies differentiate between different citizens?
4. Which communication frames and messages are used in national and local policies directed at citizens?
Leeway in local policy making
5. What are the impacts of voluntary citizen and other stakeholder initiatives on air quality, climate change, wellbeing and public health?
6. In what way are the ambitions of local policy makers in the field of air quality and climate change enhanced or hindered by other policy levels?
General success and fail factors of local policies
7. Which factors are most relevant to the success or failure of local policy making in the field of air quality and climate change?
8. Which of these factors are only relevant for the city itself, and which factors are more generally relevant to all cities?
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Figure 5-1 Amsterdam town hall 137
The role of citizens in policy making in Amsterdam Regarding the five questions concerning the role of citizens in policy making in Amsterdam, the report concludes that:
• Citizens are an important target group of national and local policies, but large
polluters receive most attention (question 1);
• Energy and in particular transport behaviour of citizens are impacted by policies.
These impacts are mostly indirect (question 2);
• Few citizen groups are targeted directly by national and local policy makers.
Exceptions are the energy poor, which are addressed to some extent (question
3);
• Reason for the mainly indirect impact of policies on citizens is that a liberal frame
dominates communication of policies to citizens, citizens are regarded as
independent and competent actors of whose autonomous actions need to be
stimulated by policy makers (question 4);
• Direct impacts of citizen action in terms of emission reductions are hard to
quantify. Indirect impacts of citizen action on health of citizens are even harder
to determine. Nevertheless, citizen action has had an indirect impact and led to
better supported policies (question 5).
More detailed conclusions are:
Large polluters, rather than citizens are key target groups in national and local policies
In national policies, large polluters like industry and agriculture are traditionally the focus points of policies because emission reductions there can be achieved more easily and more efficiently than by addressing individual households.
137 https://www.amsterdam.nl/contact/routestadhuis/
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In local policies, such large polluters are to be found mainly outside the city borders. But while citizens are certainly one of the target groups of local air quality and climate change policies, the council’s main efforts are directed at other stakeholders that are easier to address or regulate than citizens or households, e.g. housing corporations, public transport or procurement of the municipality itself.
A liberal policy frame drives citizen-based policies in Amsterdam
The ‘energetic society’, in which active, engaged and competent citizens and businesses take the initiative themselves to push forward ambitious air quality and climate change related goals, characterises Amsterdam policies in these fields. Policies are framed as to bring them closer to the daily lives of citizens by stressing local, rather than global objectives and by stressing energy and transport policy measures with a direct impact to citizens’ lives, rather than the underlying issues of improving air quality and addressing global climate change. Climate change also fits within this realm, with adaptation being an important point of action and communication – as the need for action is very visible in a water-rich and low-lying city like Amsterdam. Policies in Amsterdam particularly address front runners, to which the attributes of ‘active, engaged and competent’ apply. The flipside of this approach is that the ‘peloton’ and ‘laggards’ among Amsterdam citizens are less addressed.
Most behaviours and practices of Amsterdam citizens are impacted indirectly
Few behaviours and practices of Amsterdam citizens are targeted directly by policy, and general awareness campaigns do not seem to fit in the liberal Amsterdam policy frame. An exception to this general observation is the topic of energy poverty, where a specific low-income group of citizens is targeted directly. However, there are also many infrastructure measures that influence the daily practices of Amsterdam citizens indirectly, such as providing shelters for bikes, infrastructure for electric vehicles and the expansion of district heating infrastructure. Such measures can also partly influence specific target groups (e.g. the decree of sensitive locations for elderly and school children). Where existing patterns of behaviour and practices are impeded, such as in the case of ‘environmental zones’ for transport, this can lead to citizen protests. Whilst such impediments to citizen behaviour by direct regulation are sometimes unavoidable, further improving communication to citizens can help to improve support.
Air quality measurements and renewable energy cooperatives have been shown to be an important lever for citizen engagement
Activities of Amsterdam citizens have tended to centre on the themes of ‘citizen science’ and ‘energy cooperatives’. Under the heading of citizen science, measuring air quality by citizens themselves can be a lever to engage citizens. However, the role of such own measurements in local policy making needs to be further defined and it is unclear what citizens might do next once they have been engaged. For climate change, renewable energy cooperatives are a focal point of citizen action. Starting with establishing their own renewable energy generation, these cooperatives also provide a platform for further environmental awareness
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and action by citizens – in particular of those citizens already close to the sphere of influence of the cooperatives.
NGOs and reference to legal action play an important role in supporting citizen engagement
Air quality activism in Amsterdam is actively supported by NGO activity. Local measurements by citizens in various cities have been used by NGOs to influence national policy through legal action. A trend can thus be observed within both air pollution and climate change domains towards the ‘legalisation’ of NGO activism: trying to achieve environmental goals by suing the State for not accomplishing the targets it has agreed to nationally, at EU-level or internationally.
Leeway of Amsterdam policy makers
The room for manoeuvre of Amsterdam air quality and climate change policy makers is determined by regional, national and international policies. The research leads to the conclusion that:
• There is substantial room for manoeuvre for local policy makers in Amsterdam to
set own targets and to pursue targets that are more ambitious than those at
national level. However, in specific cases, this room for manoeuvre is limited by
the boundaries of regional (provincial) and national policies. In addition, global
(WHO) and EU policies sometimes also help to motivate ambitious national
policies (question 6).
In more detail, conclusions are:
International standards and guidelines serve to motivate the ambition of national and
local policies The development of Dutch national air quality policies shows that an important role was played by EU standards in the implementation of national standards. National climate change targets were initially stricter than those on an EU level, but have now been reduced to match the EU legislation. In terms of driving local action, the indicative targets and guidelines set by WHO on a global level have also proved to be important.
Regional spatial planning currently obstructs local ambitions
Whereas international policies serve to stimulate local action, action on this level is sometimes hindered by regional policies. In Amsterdam, this holds in particular for Provincial spatial planning guidelines putting strict conditions to the siting of wind turbines within the city.
General success and fail factors of Amsterdam policies The research has pointed to several successes and failures of Amsterdam policies, which are presented here in terms of ‘policy successes’ and ‘policy challenges’.
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• A particular success of Amsterdam air quality and climate change policies is that
it has been possible to develop and pursue local ambitions that are higher than
those on a national level (question 7);
• However, specific air quality hotspots remain, and connections between air
quality and climate change policies, as well as overall communication of policies
to optimise citizen support, remain challenges for the future (question 8).
In more detail, the policy successes and challenges are:
Policy successes
It is possible to develop local policies that are more ambitious than national standards
City policies in Amsterdam are clearly more ambitious than national legislation in the Netherlands prescribes. Stricter standards for air quality, ‘environmental zones’ for transport and legislation that prohibits construction of schools and retirement homes close to motorways and busy streets are some of the achievements of Amsterdam policies, together with high ambitions for air quality as well as climate change policies in the future. Support of local politicians in broad coalitions over various council periods - not only of ‘green’ and ‘left’ parties - has played a key role to set targets and to implement measures to achieve these.
Measurements play an important role in evaluating and defending local policies
Amsterdam is one of the few cities in the Netherlands (next to Rotterdam) that has its own network of monitoring facilities. This network has been essential in defending 80 km/h speed limits on the Amsterdam urban motorways against national political opposition, as well as in identifying the main local air quality hotspots. An appropriate infrastructure for measuring actual exposure levels, next to more general overall calculations of air pollution levels, therefore appears important to underpin local policies.
Policy challenges Specific air quality hotspots remain
Despite Amsterdam policies being more ambitious than national policies, several air quality hotspots remain. In these hotspots, concentrations are higher than European standards, particularly due to road traffic. The city of Amsterdam has the legal obligation to meet the EU limit values and consequently, to take measures to improve air quality at those hot spot locations. The hotspots were exploited by the NGO that initiated local air quality measurements to name Amsterdam ‘the dirtiest city of the Netherlands’. Furthermore, such hotspots might be a useful means to maintain policy attention for air quality issues in the city in the future.
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Air quality and climate change policies overlap, but could be even more connected to everyday-life concerns of citizens
Air quality and climate change policies overlap, particularly in the fields of transport and energy. In this way they also affect the everyday life of citizens e.g. through health impacts and the noise effects of traffic, next to the longer-term effects on the climate. Whilst stressing the relationships between impacts and policies could help in safeguarding citizen support for a range of (sometimes controversial) policies in the future, such links are not yet made systematically in all communications in order to optimise citizen support for policies. Whereas health already gets some attention in policy making, noise is not yet systematically connected to traffic and air quality policies. On the other hand, more focus on ‘subjective’ citizen concerns should go together with stressing the wider importance of policies for citizens on a local, national and international level in order to put the relevance of policies in context. Current air quality standards are not yet sufficiently connected to the health effects of air pollution
Whereas legislation requires fixed standards to be implemented, such standards also might introduce perverse incentives. These include reducing concentrations beyond regulated levels in one spot by transferring emissions to other locations (e.g. by diverting traffic from one street to another). It may be argued that there are no ‘safe’ concentrations of air pollution in which no negative health impacts occur. As such, policy mechanisms are required to introduce incentives for linear reductions in emissions over the long-term, i.e. ‘continuously adaptive standards’. Figure 5-2: Dam Square and visitors 138
138 http://www.world-wallpaper.com/wallpaper/amsterdam-dam-national-monument_w2135.html
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5.2. Further work in ClairCity This report on Amsterdam policies is the first of the ‘city baseline reports’ that will together form the deliverables of WP6.1. As outlined in Chapter 1, WP6 serves to feed into a number of other ClairCity activities. The potential consequences of the Amsterdam findings for further work in these activities are discussed in this final section of the report.
Social science Work Package 3 (WP3) is directed at social science insights that can help to improve the way that citizens are considered in local air quality and climate change policies. One important finding from the Amsterdam research is that feedback on how air pollution is impacting on citizens themselves (measuring exposure due to other sources, citizens measuring their own contribution to the problem) seems to be an incentive for citizen activism. Direct interaction with policymakers motivates changes in individual behaviour, in particular if policymakers promise to undertake action based on the outcomes of activities or measurements. Another finding is the importance of NGOs and networks for successful activism. Both findings will be explored further in the other cities in order to get a better idea of what are conditions for successful citizen activism in relation to air quality and climate change policies. Thereby also the role of ‘health’ and ‘noise’ as mobilising concepts for citizens and policy makers alike will be explored.
Citizen engagement activities In WP4, citizen engagement activities are being developed. Clearly, in order to obtain a representative sample of the Amsterdam population, the diversity of cultures, income groups and education will need to be reflected. This might involve searching for ways to engage participants from different neighbourhoods. From a practical workshop organisation perspective, a first stakeholder network was established in Amsterdam that can be used to set up future activities. However, this ‘core network’ consists of people already active in the field, so it is biased with respect to frontrunners.
The app For WP5, technical development of game and app, the Amsterdam research indicates that apps in the field of air quality are already available, already using specific Dutch or even local Amsterdam information. In particular, there is an app developed in the Netherlands that provides information on the current air quality overall and for various pollutants. This app also provides advice on what to do in the event of high pollution levels139. Future research will therefore have to be directed at what a ClairCity app can offer in addition to such freely available apps. Also, the commercial value of such an app would need to be tested.
139 https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.labela.luchtkwaliteit
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The game
Fine-tuning of policy questions to be incorporated in the game based on the Amsterdam results suggests that at least the ‘liberal policy frame’ option in Amsterdam would need to be included. This could be done with questions like ‘Do you want to be involved in future air quality and climate change policy making in your city?’, ‘Should policy makers adapt policies to reflect citizen initiatives in the fields of air quality and climate change?’ and others.
The scenarios In order to include the experience gained in Amsterdam into the scenarios that will be developed in WP7, the ‘energetic society’ also seems a key experience to be taken into account. Apart from ‘deep green’ versus ‘high-tech’ futures, which can be found more often in Delphi-type future scenarios, citizens are also concerned about the way they will be governed in the future. Will paternalistic or rather liberal views bring about the desired changes, is a question that could be used as a guideline to address wider views of citizens on green governance in the future.
The policy package At the end of the ClairCity project, a ‘policy package’ will be presented to policy makers with tools to improve future municipal air quality and climate change policies. This will include, next to the app and the game, a set of policy recommendations that could be applied by policy makers in any city wishing to engage in citizen-inclusive and orientated air quality and climate change policies.
For these policy recommendations to be shaped, a process of policy learning has started up through discussion in the project with policy makers in the other pilot cities involved. A few concrete Amsterdam policies were already pointed to by Bristol and other city policy makers as being potentially interesting for their cities as well. In particular the Amsterdam ‘Sensitive Locations Decree’ and Amsterdam biking policies. From the next report (for Bristol) onwards material will become available for comparison between cities. Therefore there will be scope for further policy learning as the future city policy reports develop.
Finally, the Amsterdam policy research has pointed to some initial ideas for the Policy Package that have to be made more concrete and compared with the lessons to be drawn from the other city reports in the next steps of the project. One particular idea that stands out for further research is that awareness raising should be accompanied by tools for citizens to interact with policy making and society on a larger scale.
In Amsterdam, the policy choice was made to avoid spending much time and funds on awareness raising of citizens, as citizens were considered to be sufficiently aware of global and local problems associated with climate change and air quality. While this might hold for climate change, it is less clear if Amsterdam citizens are also aware of air quality problems in the city and potential consequences of bad air quality to health. In the other pilot cities and regions, citizens might be even less aware of potential impacts of climate change and air quality to their lives – and the need for awareness raising and stimulating participation in behavioural changes therefore greater.
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Without specific awareness raising, however, and induced by the liberal policy framing or not, some citizens in Amsterdam were found to be already be very active in the fields of air quality and climate change. This was particularly the case for those measuring air quality and exposure themselves, and for those active in energy cooperatives. The interviews and literature pointed to one aspect of these activities that so far seems to get less attention from policy makers: active citizens do not only want to take action to have an effect on their own lives (private energy savings, taking the bike more often, etc.), but they also want to interact with policy makers to see more systemic changes in their street, neighbourhood, city or even on a larger level.
This relationship between citizen action and policy consequences is far from straightforward. Despite much enthusiasm, citizen actions can also be amateurish or, while positive on a micro-scale, have negative consequences on a larger scale (e.g. national transmission network imbalances from large numbers of small renewable energy installations). Citizen-inclusive policies of the future should therefore be designed in such a way that they include not only visions of a city that focus on the way citizens want to live, work, spend their leisure time, and the consequences of these actions for climate change and air quality. But that they should also take a robust view on the future relation between citizens and policy making. This means that, while citizens should present their views on the city and its policy making, policy makers should give their views on what they consider to be feasible in optimising the interactions of citizens in policy making.
These considerations give rise to two first ideas for concrete products to be developed in the Policy Package, next to the recommendations and ‘best practices’ of specific policies:
• Citizen Measurements and Policy Action (a Tool for Policy-makers): This tool could examine what are the value and limitations of citizen measurements of air quality in a city. More specifically, the tool could address to what extent policy support is increased by taking on board citizen measurements in the design of air quality policies. Also addressing the questions of how this can be done in a scientifically correct way to support ‘fact-based policies’? and how this can be integrated in the city policy processes?
• Conditions for Successful Engagement with Policies (a Tool for Citizens): Citizens that want to be frontrunners in engagement with climate and air quality policies could also be supported in their engagement with policy makers. What does it require to be an active citizen? What can you gain from being active? And how should you successfully engage with policy makers so that your actions result in more citizen-inclusive policies?
