Relief Clean Air Committee (Comité Schone Lucht): ‘now focus on nature restoration, a nature-building climate policy and ditto energy transition’

The Clean Air Committee, the Dutch interest group for biodiversity and sustainable energy, is happy and relieved about the departure of the largest government party today: ‘the Climate Plan of this cabinet focuses on expensive and unproven experiments, such as biomass combustion with CO2 capture and storage (BECCS), which lead to enormous damage to biodiversity and ecosystems. As of today, it is the turn of the House of Representatives to put a stop to this and to turn this into recovery of Climate and Biodiversity and a truly sustainable, emission-free energy transition,’ says Fenna Swart, chair of the Clean Air Committee, who speaks on behalf of the ‘International Nature Coalition Forests are no Fuel’

The cabinet has committed to opening up the subsidy scheme (SDE++ round 2025) for CO2 capture and storage at biomass power stations, in the context of the so-called climate measure biomass combustion with CCS, abbreviated BECCS. This led to major criticism from (inter)national nature organisations. Not only because of major objections due to the threat to forests and biodiversity, but also renowned (scientific) institutions such as EASAC, KNAW, JRC and the United Nations indicate that BECCS does not deliver the claimed negative emissions across the entire chain.

For this reason, the Clean Air Committee, also on behalf of the international NGOs Client Earth and FERN, published a guideline (Wiser with Wood) with measures and solutions to achieve a sustainable Dutch policy for Climate and Biodiversity, including a real, emission-free energy transition. However, the minister refused to take the space that EU legislation offers to use ambition in the conversion of the EU Sustainable Energy Directive (REDIII) into Dutch legislation and regulations. After several calls from the Clean Air Committee, which, on behalf of (inter)national environmental groups, called the cabinet to order, the minister responded publicly to the criticism on the basis of which both the Clean Air Committee’s guideline and the minister’s response are on the agenda for the climate debate next Thursday, 5 June.