2014 Eco-diverCity

The Netherlands have long been struggling to meet the energy saving and renewable energy targets agreed upon in 2007. Till date, the cities have played a dominant role in stimulating the use of renewable energy while the private sector have invested hundreds of millions in research & development and innovation to make energy saving and renewable energy more accessible to the end user. Local cities are considered to play a key role in the transition to renewable energy as they hold a direct relationship with local business and citizens; Cities are therefore in a position to execute the national policy while meeting the requirements and demands of their local stakeholders.
The initiative formally came into place when in 2007 the leaders of the European Commission came up with the EU climate and energy package, better known as the EU 20-20-20 directive. The directive was to set targets for its member states (the Netherlands being one of them) with which it is to steer the member states on an annual basis towards a bigger objective which was the climate and energy directive i.e. 20-20-20. For the Netherlands, the targets are 20% CO2 reduction, 20% energy saving and 14% renewable energy generation. With the climate and energy package, the National government of the Netherlands have encountered multiple challenges in meeting these targets, which led to the Netherlands being one of the worse performing countries in the European Union. A key challenge was the effect of the debt crisis of 2007, a crisis which till date require ambitious and innovative policies to get the country out of debt while simultaneously attempting to reduce the un- employment rate, provide social support for the citizens directly affected by the crisis and to stimulate the growth of the economy, all at the same time. It is therefore that the current percentage of renewable energy input in the Netherlands is at a mere 4.4% (Social Economic Council, 2013, p. 6) and has only increased with a low 0.1% since 2012. These challenges encountered have a substantial impact on the performance of the Netherlands as the Netherlands was given the target of 14% renewable energy by 2020 while the Rutte-Asscher government have ambitiously heightened the target to 16% by the year 2023. (Social Economic Council, 2013, p. 3) In the year 2013 the Social Economic Council chaired and drafted the first energy agreement of the Netherlands which one might say is the first large scale ambition of the Netherlands to meet the laid out targets. The agreement included key stakeholders such as environmental organisations, think-tanks and companies directly involved in the energy industry in the Netherlands.

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