The Environment and Planning Act (Omgevingswet) is a framework law that includes everything that is part of the “physical environment” (“leefomgeving”), and has come into force on January 1, 2024. The overall objective of this Act in relation to society (Article 1.3) is “ensuring sustainable development, the habitability of the land and to protecting and enhancing this environment”, interrelated with the objective to achieve and maintain a safe and healthy physical environment and good environmental quality, because of “the intrinsic value of the natural world”. Moreover, the Act includes the aim of countering climate change, protecting the environment and nature, and safeguarding health. Overall, the purpose of the Environment and Planning Act is to create a more coherent regulatory landscape for the physical environment by modernising, harmonising and combining laws into one single Act, which makes for five major improvements:
<ol>
<li>More transparent environment and planning law</li>
<li>A more coherent and balanced approach to the physical environment</li>
<li>Room for customisation on the local level</li>
<li>Better and faster decision-making</li>
<li>Increased participation and incentive to increase the alignment of interests of different stakeholders, e.g. municipalities, developers and other actors influencing the physical environment through their activities</li>
</ol>
The Environment and planning act states that the physical environment shall in any event include:
<ul>
<li>buildings, infrastructure, water systems, water, soil, air, landscapes, the natural environment, cultural heritage, and world heritage</li>
</ul>
Overall, it (partially) repeals 26 laws and combines them into one single Act, including the Crisis Recovery Act, the Environmental Management Act, and parts of the Water Act. The Act consists of 6 core instruments that allow governments to write and implement policies, regulate activities, and implement projects, aimed at using and protecting the physical environment.
Among these is the Environment Vision, a strategic plan outlining the future aim for the development of the physical environment, which needs to be created by all government levels (national, provincial, and municipal level). An additional instrument are the decentralised rules, in which all decentralised governments have 1 regulation for the physical environment in their territory, e.g. frameworks for assessing permits or rules for activities of citizens and companies. The Act also creates a digital environment (“Omgevingsloket”) connecting all governments, and functions as a one-stop-shop for all applications to permits, zoning plan rules, and details on the quality of the physical environment. Moreover, the Act reduces the previous 60 Orders in Council to 4 Orders in Council, and narrows down 75 ministerial regulations to one ‘Environment Regulation’. It includes the following four Orders in Council. As part of the legislative package in introduces the following four decrees:
<ol>
<li>The Environment Decree of the Netherlands (Omgevingsbesluit)</li>
<li>The Environmental Quality Decree of the Netherlands (Besluit kwaliteit leefomgeving, Bkl)</li>
<li>The Environmental Activities Decree of the Netherlands (Besluit activiteiten leefomgeving, Bal)</li>
<li>The Environment Buildings Decree of the Netherlands (Besluit bouwwerken leefomgeving, Bbl)</li>
</ol>

Important themes within the Environment and Planning Act: Nitrogen
The government is combining nitrogen measures with other measures to improve the quality of water, soil, and nature, and fulfil the Dutch climate obligations. Measures are therefore introduced for 1) industry, 2) agriculture, 3) transport and the 4) construction sector in order to reduce nitrogen deposition and improve the quality of Natura 2000 areas. The Nitrogen Reduction and Nature Improvement Act previously regulated the structural nitrogen approach. With the Environment and Planning Act this law is repealed, and the following components become part of the system of the Environment and Planning Act:
<ul>
<li>Result-demanding environmental values for nitrogen deposition on nitrogen-sensitive Natura 2000 areas (Article 2.15a on ambient values for nitrogen)</li>
<ul>
<li>2025: 40% of the nitrogen sensitive Natura-2000 areas must be below the critical deposition value (255 mole per hectare) in 2025</li>
<li>2030: 50% of the nitrogen sensitive Natura-2000 areas must be below the critical deposition value in 2030</li>
<li>2035: 74% of the nitrogen sensitive Natura-2000 areas must be below the critical deposition value in 2035</li>
</ul>
<li>Obligatory national nitrogen reduction and nature improvement programme</li>
<li>Monitoring and adjustment system</li>
</ul>

Environment and Planning Act of the Netherlands (Omgevingswet)

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First publication of the Environment and Planning Act

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An aim to achieve a quantifiable outcome within a given time-frame, set by an institution such as a national government.

Policy instruments are techniques or tools used by governing authorities to promote certain policies in order to achieve predetermined goals. Put simply, instruments are how a government tries to achieve its goals, with this taxonomy being focused on national policy instruments.

Risk is the potential for adverse consequences resulting from the dynamic interplay between (climate-related) hazards, exposure, and vulnerability of affected human or ecological systems.

Groups  of people who are adversely affected by climate change or the response to it

A set of principles, processes, and practices that build economic and political power to shift from an extractive economy to a regenerative economy.

Justice is the ethical and political framework that addresses fairness, including issues of responsibility, rights, and structural inequity.

Renewable energy means all forms of energy produced from renewable sources in a sustainable manner.

Fossil fuel is a generic term for non-renewable energy sources such as coal, fossil gas, and oil (including crude oil, and petroleum products), that can be used for electricity and heat generation. Fossil fuels are hydrocarbons formed from pressurised and heated organic material buried over millions of years.

Molecules in the atmosphere that play a key role in the greenhouse effect by trapping heat radiating from Earth’s surface.

Area of the economy in which actors engage in identical or related activities.

In human systems, the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate change and its effects, in order to moderate harm, increase resilience or exploit beneficial opportunities. In natural systems, the process of adjustment to actual climate change and its effects; human intervention may facilitate adjustment to expected climate change and its effects.

The management and allocation of funds, assets and investments to meet various objectives

A subsidy is a direct or indirect payment to individuals or businesses, typically provided as a government cash payment or a specific tax reduction.

Compulsory, required payments to the government that are levied more-or-less in proportion to the services provided. Fees and charges range from entrance fees to national parks, charges on land-based sewage discharge.

Financial support to help individuals manage the effects of unexpected events, securing their livelihoods and increasing the resilience of people and businesses to the changing climate. It’s especially vital in developing regions where everyday risks, climate-related weather extremes, or crop failures can push people into poverty. Without insurance, people may have to resort to selling assets or cutting consumption to cope with losses.

Codes and standards are regulatory instruments that specify minimum standards to protect health and safety. This ranges from performance standards, which prescribe outcomes while allowing flexibility to achieve compliance, to the more prescriptive approach of technology-specific standards.

Zoning and spatial planning are both methods for guiding the distribution of people and activities in a space, and are regulatory restriction.

A ban is a legal action that prevents the sale or supply of a product or service, or that recalls a product from the market. Examples are bans on SF6, greenwashing, fossil fuel advertisement or single-use plastics.

Using laws and the legal system more broadly to protect vulnerable entities

Either money or something of monetary value is transferred between two or more organisations, people or countries.

Conditions that enhance the feasibility of adaptation options. Enabling conditions include finance, technological innovation, strengthening policy instruments, institutional capacity, multi-level governance and changes in human behaviour and lifestyles.

Actions or measures to adapt freshwater systems to climate change.

Actions or measures to adapt freshwater, coastal and marine systems to climate change.

A long-lived, colourless gas, chiefly emitted from fossil fuel combustion, deforestation and cement production.

Actions to reduce emissions in energy generation and supply.

Extreme weather refers to events where a weather variable exceeds (or falls below) a threshold. Meaning it is significantly different from the average or usual weather pattern.

Air pollution involves harmful contaminants in the air, affecting both indoor and outdoor environments. It can lead to health issues like respiratory diseases and heart problems, and climate impacts such as global warming. Pollutants can damage plants, trees, habitats, and water bodies like rivers and lakes.

Social protection systems consist of policies that help people manage social risks in order to prevent poverty and maintain decent incomes and living standards

Social inclusion is the process of improving the terms on which individuals and groups take part in society—improving the ability, opportunity, and dignity of those disadvantaged on the basis of their identity.

Heat extracted from the ground, usually in the form of hot water or steam and typically referred to as hydrothermal fluid.

Electrical energy generated from mechanical devices driven by flowing fresh water.

Production of electricity and heat from solar irradiation.

Kinetic energy of airflow transformed into useful energy, mostly electrical energy.

Oil is a combustible liquid fossil fuel composed mainly of hydrocarbons, occurring as crude oil and refined into petroleum products such as petrol, diesel and kerosene.

Fossil gas, commonly known as natural gas, is a fossil fuel consisting chiefly of methane with smaller amounts of other hydrocarbons and trace gases, found in underground deposits.

People whose health, both mental and physical, makes them more vulnerable to the effects of climate change

Any compulsory, unrequited payment to the government levied on corporations or individuals. This can be for environmental reasons, such as introducing a Carbon tax to set a price that emitters must pay for the greenhouse gases they emit.

Activities of industries that extract natural resources, such as mining, oil, and gas, for commercial use.

The activities of industries involved in the production, distribution, and sale of energy, including electricity, gas, and renewables.

This sector involves managing waste treatment, sanitation, pollution control and environmental cleanup.

Activities that involve planning, designing and building infrastructure, residential, and commercial structures.

This sector involves activities to move goods and people, alongside the storage of products.

This sector creates and distributes information and entertainment through television, radio, print, and digital platforms.

This sector involves activities that impart knowledge and skills to individuals, including formal schooling, vocational training and educational support.

Activities of government agencies and institutions that provide public services, enforce laws and manage public resources.

This sector includes firms and individuals offering specialised expertise in fields such as law, accounting, consulting, science and engineering.

Activities of businesses and institutions that provide financial services and products to individuals and organisations.

This sector involves the distribution, treatment, and conservation of water resources.

the fair distribution of risks and opportunities of climate change and the transition to a regenerative economy, cognisant in particular of disproportionate impacts on vulnerable communities and the working class

Procedural justice means ensuring that decision making is safe, transparent and inclusive, emphasizing the agency and influence of vulnerable groups and those most impacted.

Any substance with chemical properties that can cause physical harm to people or damage the environment, including ammonia, carbon monoxide, phosphine, chlorine, arsenic, cadmium, mercury, pesticides, dioxins, microplastics, benzene, asbestos, aflatoxins, fluoride, methanol, and toxins from marine sources.

Climate change impacts our society by disrupting the natural, economic and social systems we depend on. Physical hazards and underlying vulnerabilities can lead to increased resource competition for food and water, which can heighten the risk of conflict.

First publication of the Environment and Planning Act

Policy instrument

Risk

Impacted group

Just transition

Climate justice

Renewable energy

Fossil fuel

Greenhouse gas

Economic sector

Adaptation/resilience

Finance