For the first time sustainability including climate change mitigation and transformation to a sustainable energy supply has been fully fledged incorporated in the guidelines for an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for a spatial plan published by the Netherlands Commission for Environmental Assessment. The spatial plan covers a region in the North of the Netherlands (Eemsmond) and includes two big sea harbours, 1 city and several villages, several big fossil fuelled power plants and wind farms. So far, only effects of and mitigation measures for harmful emissions having clear legal thresholds were included in the Commission’s guidelines. Deducing a threshold concentration for CO2 from the widely accepted 2 degrees warming maximum the case was made to include CO2 emissions (and its mitigation) in the EIA for the Regional Spatial plan for the Eemsmond (“Structuurvisie Eemsmond-Delfzijl”). Read more …
02
Jul
2015
Tomasz Mirowski will help us explore and untap the potential of the Polish market. Next to his job at Skanska, where he is taking care of facility management and real estate management, he is eager to set his first steps in the sustainability business. Being born in Poland he will bring the necessary help in effectively communicating with Polish clients while helping us to understand their culture. The first meetings with him turned into working sessions and gave us both the belief the cooperation is going to work. 
The Province of Flevoland has always set itself stiff renewable energy targets (100% in 2020). Further policy development was not necessary any more, translating ambitions and policies into real projects was the provincial call for action. During his time as Programme Manager Sustainability and Energy for the Province of Flevoland, Arie van Beek gave therefore an assignment to a consultancy to explore the feasibility of a Sustainable Energy & Development Utility (abbreviated in Dutch as as DE-on). The utility should have all the Flevoland Municipalities, the Provincial water authority (Zuiderzeeland) and the Province on board and would function as an accelerator for renewable energy, energy saving and energy efficiency projects. About 80 potential projects were identified. Following review, Arie van Beek had its key recommendation adopted by the steering committee (provincial governor, board member of the water authority and all relevant municipal alderman): draft a business plan including detailed business cases for the 5 most promising projects to kick start DE-on.