The dash away from gas: how the Netherlands kicked a big fossil fuel habit

The Netherlands plans to abandon its gas grid and use this monumental shift to drive the decarbonisation of its wider built environment. Natural gas is to the Netherlands what oil is to the Gulf States and it has completely shaped its economic and industrial legacy. In 1959, the ninth largest natural gas field in the world Slochteren was discovered in the northern province of Groningen and within just five years, nearly all Dutch homes were connected to the gas grid.

As of 2018, gas heated nine in every ten homes in the Netherlands and 38% of total energy consumption went towards heating (of which over half goes to residential buildings). [Today industrial consumption 42.2% and residential 19.2%] The change came following a series of earthquakes caused by fracking [? nonsense], which created a huge public outcry. In 2019, the Dutch decided to go completely gas-free by 2050, and to halt domestic production by 2030 - although this could happen as early as 2022.

In March 2018, the EU called upon its member states to create specific Integrated National Energy and Climate Plans (NECP) to aid continent-wide decarbonisation efforts. This led the Dutch government to bring together a wide range of civil society organisations (labour unions, NGOs, business associations and local authorities) to help draw up its national climate commitments. The final text was published in December 2018.

Judgment in the climate case brought by Urgenda against the State of the Netherlands

Additional reading ...

Natural Gas in the Netherlands | Clingendael |

'Sapere aude'