Environmental organizations demand destruction of Schiphol’s nature permit

The environmental organizations Greenpeace, Milieudefensie and Mobilization for the Environment (MOB) are demanding that the nature permit that Schiphol received in September be annulled. They have sent an appeal to the court to this effect. The nature permit should never have been granted due to “gross substantive and procedural defects”, the organizations say.

Schiphol did not have a nature permit for years because it was believed that this was not necessary. In 2020, the cabinet decided that the airport had to apply for such a permit. The nature permit that was issued in September offers space for a maximum of 500,000 flights per year.

When granting the permit, the situation in 2008 was incorrectly taken into account, the organizations write. According to them, this situation does not justify the number of flights. In addition, “local residents of Schiphol and environmental organizations have not been able to adequately submit their views against the permit”.

Greenpeace, Milieudefensie and MOB also criticize the fact that Schiphol bought nitrogen rights from farms. According to the organizations, these do not create enough nitrogen space to accommodate the current number of flight movements at Schiphol.

The environmental organizations find it “unacceptable that in the middle of a climate crisis, all legal tricks are used to legalize an airport as large as possible”. In challenging the nature permit, the three organizations receive support from Schipholwatch and the Nieuwkoop Vlieghinder Association.

MOB has been conducting lawsuits against the environmental damage caused by air traffic for years. The organization wants all night flights at Schiphol to be banned and most of the connecting flights to disappear. “Switchers contribute nothing to the Dutch economy.”