The Netherlands desperately needs all forms of sustainable energy to reduce our dependence on (Russian) fossil energy as quickly as possible and to achieve our climate goals. This also requires sustainable biomass. Without biomass it will be a lot more difficult and expensive to achieve this.
Unfortunately, the cabinet has decided today to stop subsidizing new projects using biomass for low-temperature heat (up to 100 degrees). This makes it much more difficult and expensive to provide the built environment with sustainable heat, for example via heating networks. According to the NVDE, the cabinet decision makes the climate goals for the built environment virtually unattainable, increases dependence on (Russian) natural gas and causes higher costs for residents and companies.
Sustainable alternatives to biomass are not sufficiently available in the short term, especially to meet the peak demand for heat in the winter. The available alternatives are also considerably more expensive than sustainable biomass. According to research by TNO, this leads to a cost increase of 1,7 to 2,6 billion euros. Unfortunately, the government does not indicate in any way what the structure of these (more expensive) alternatives will look like and there is therefore no plan to compensate for the cessation of biomass.
PBL and TNO previously established that achieving the climate and energy objectives, especially in the built environment and greenhouse horticulture, is technically and financially difficult to achieve when phasing out subsidies on woody biomass earlier than 2030, and financial will have consequences. These costs will ultimately have to be paid by citizens and companies through higher energy bills. And the chance that we will achieve our climate goals for 2030 becomes much smaller.
The stop on subsidies for new bio-heat projects will also hinder transition paths that we need in the long term. These types of projects are, for example, very suitable for supplying a developing new heating network with flexible heat, whereby an alternative source such as geothermal energy is incorporated as soon as the network is large enough. These projects also ensure the safeguarding of sustainable biomass flows that can be used at a later stage for high-quality applications such as chemistry and materials and offer an opportunity to achieve negative emissions.
To illustrate the urgency: The built environment is currently on its way to CO2 emissions of 18,9 Megatons in 2030, according to PBL's Climate and Energy Outlook. In the recent letter from Minister Jetten regarding climate policy, there was still room for an 'indicative residual emission' of 10,1 megatons for this sector. A very drastic acceleration of sustainability is therefore needed, not a slowdown like this.
Source: NVDE
