Cabinet boosts home sustainability; Poorly insulated homes can't be rented out from 2030

The process of making homes, shops and other buildings more sustainable must "considerably accelerate" in order to achieve the 2030 targets. In addition to financing arrangements, there will also be a step-by-step plan for sustainability, and legal requirements for rental property owners to achieve this. Badly insulated rental housing, both in the social and private sectors, should no longer be rented out from the beginning of 2030. These standpoints were presented in a program that Housing Minister Hugo de Jonge developed, in which he elaborates on plans from the coalition agreement.

The minister wants a sustainable home to be realized for all residents, with support and financial subsidies. For example, he wants to make it possible for people with lower incomes to borrow at 0 percent interest rates to make their homes more energy efficient. De Jonge also wants to relax other conditions and offer attractive schemes so that more people can get started with insulating their homes, purchasing a heat pump including hybrid variants, and acquiring a stove that operates on electricity. The Cabinet previously announced that it will be mandatory to use a heat pump or a sustainable alternative when replacing a central heating system starting in 2026.

The buildings with the worst energy labels (E, F, G) will be first to be tackled. In total, at least 2.5 million homes must be insulated by 2030. A national program was already devised for this purpose.

A sustainable home for everyone "is good for the climate, prevents high energy bills and makes us less dependent on natural gas," De Jonge said. "We do this by helping people more easily find their way to insulate their homes, and by removing financial barriers. We want to prevent people from being burdened by unnecessarily high costs."

It is especially important that owners of homes and buildings are clear about their wishes and requirements for sustainability, precisely because it is "a complicated and unusual subject for most building owners," according to De Jonge. Each measure and new step must be clearly indicated. The government will launch a digital platform using the website verbeterjehuis.nl in order to provide more clarity for everyone about the sustainability process.

Users can visit the site to find out more about schemes, subsidies and providers. Information will also be provided about which measures are technically sensible, about the expected savings on energy bills, and about reliable providers.