The government plans for reducing nitrogen emissions should lead to a reduction of livestock by about 30 percent in ten years’ time. This is confirmed by sources from The Hague after reporting from RTL News.
In September, at the request of the forming parties, the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency calculated two scenarios† It now appears that the cabinet has opted for ‘variant B’.
This means that the livestock will shrink considerably in the coming decade, albeit not as much as the halving advocated by D66 in 2019.
Forced buyout
The shrinkage must mainly be achieved through the purchase, relocation and sustainability of farms. This is done on a voluntary basis as much as possible. But if farmers in the vicinity of a protected nature reserve continue to refuse to cooperate, the coalition agreement does not rule out forced buy-out.
‘Variant A’ was cheaper† It focused more on buying livestock (instead of companies) and making companies more sustainable through technical solutions.
The previous cabinet earmarked around 5 billion euros for nitrogen reduction. The current government is adding 25 billion to that. The 30 billion will also be used to tackle pollution from, for example, aviation and shipping. But the largest part is intended for reducing livestock and restoring nature.
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