Amsterdam will not reach target of making all homes gas-free by 2040

Making all Amsterdam homes natural gas-free by 2040 is “not achievable” with the current plans, the alderwoman for sustainability, Zita Pels, wrote in a council letter on Thursday. The capital city decided in 2020 that all the homes had to be natural gas-free in 20 years. But, this target will not be achieved due to problems with heat grids.

Vattenfall decided last year to stop laying heat grids in neighborhoods with already-built homes due to the high costs that are connected to this. As a result, the expansion of collective heating networks to disconnect existing homes from gas is lagging.

Support for heating networks also declined when it became apparent that hundreds of households had to pay more for using the heating network than for gas. They are compensated for this by the municipality.

Pels also wrote that she sees that national legislation and financing for heat grids are not in order. “The financial support for collective heat grids from the Government is not sufficient at this time, and the proposed public majority interest in heating companies in the new legislation (Collective Heating Act) makes it less interesting for private heating companies to invest," said the alderwoman.

Amsterdam still has ambitions to be climate-neutral by 2050. However, because the heating grids are lagging, the alderwoman has changed the course. She now wants to push back CO2 emissions within 3 to 5 years by using hybrid and all-electric water pumps.

In the longer term, the municipality wants to participate in a public heating company for the Amsterdam region and ensure that heating networks become more affordable. "We are going to focus on as much CO2 reduction as possible in the short term without losing sight of the ambition to be natural gas-free."