Gov't plan for higher nitrogen limit "vulnerable" with "not insignificant risks"

The government’s plan to increase the lower limit for nitrogen emissions is “vulnerable” and entails “not insignificant risks,” the Council of State said on Monday after Agriculture Minister Femke Wiersma asked for advice. The Council expects the new limit will be challenged in court. “It is far from certain whether it will remain in place,” said the Council of State, the government’s most important legal advisor.

Currently, the lower limit for nitrogen emissions is 0.005 mol nitrogen per hectare per year. That means that every company that emits more nitrogen than that must apply for a permit. In practice, it means almost all companies need a permit to emit nitrogen.

Wiersma wants to increase the limit to 1 mol per hectare per year. According to her, this is a scientifically substantiated amount because any emissions below that are difficult to calculate.

The Council of State worries that if many companies are allowed to emit small amounts of nitrogen without a permit, all those small amounts will add up to an even bigger nitrogen problem than the Netherlands already has.

The Council of State stressed the need for “a robust, credible, and effective” package of measures to achieve the “urgently needed” nature restoration. Only once nature is restored to a healthy point will Wiersma’s increased lower limit be “defensible,” the Council said.

In a short response, Wiersma told NOS that the Council raised “a number of recognisable points of attention.” She will provide a more extensive response before the summer break, and the Cabinet will then make a decision. “We will now look at how the arithmetic lower limit can be introduced in a responsible manner.”