The Environment Buildings Decree of the Netherlands (Besluit bouwwerken leefomgeving, Bbl) contains rules on construction, demolition,and the use and maintenance of buildings, in order to enhance the safety, health, sustainability, and operability of buildings. Together with the Environmental Activities Decree (Bal) this Decree updates the systematic approach to enhance energy efficiency by companies and institutions. One example of improving the sustainability of the built environment is the policy that all office buildings in the Netherlands require an energy label of C or better from 1 January 2023.
The Decree was first published in 2018, and amended later in 2023 in order to “make energy use more sustainable” as is stated to be “an important means to achieve the government’s emission reduction targets”. In the amendment, the following changes were made
- The Energy Saving Obligation is broadened to an obligation to take measures to make energy use more sustainably. This means measures for on-site renewable energy production, and switching energy sources to one with lower carbon emissions will become mandatory if they have a payback period of no more than five years
- The target group for the Energy Saving Obligation is expanded, this is done through declaring the energy-saving obligation applicable to environmentally harmful activities that require a permit, and by removing the exception in certain cases
- Updates the information obligation to report on sustainable energy measures
