Letter to the government: close all coal plants

More than sixty leading Dutch academics - including four NIOO-scientists - have called on the government to shut down all coal plants. Even if such a measure would prevent the Netherlands from meeting its 2020 targets for renewable energy. NIOO-director Louise Vet explains.

"If we don't take action soon and on a major scale", says Louise Vet, "the Netherlands will be dangling all the way at the bottom of the list when it comes to climate and energy policy." 

The academics' letter to the government cites the European Environmental Agency in Colenhagen, which puts the Netherlands below other European countries. "And that is absolutely unacceptable", says the NIOO-director. 

The academics are urging the Dutch government to send a clear signal in the run-up to the climate summit in Paris, which begins on 30 November.

And the clearest signal, they argue, would be to shut down all coal plants. Including three that have only been in use since this year.

Worldwide momentum

According to Louise Vet, the Netherlands is bucking a worldwide trend when it comes to coal. In the past five years, the US has closed up to 40% of its coal plants. Many European countries - including Germany and Britain - have announced similar measures.

"Even China", says Vet, "is now looking for alternative forms of energy." In fact, coal consumption in China went down for the very first time in 2014. "So there is definitely a worldwide momentum."

According to the academics who signed the letter, the Netherlands could easily muster enough capacity for its industries and domestic energy use even if all coal plants were to close their doors tomorrow. And there would still be a substantial buffer.

Switching to gas only would also allow the Netherlands to meet the 2020 target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 25%  in one fell swoop. So that cannot be the reason the Dutch government is being so reluctant.

Wood combustion

More problematic is that the Netherlands has invested heavily in wood combustion as a way of meeting its renewable energy targets. Wood is a renewable source of energy according to the EU, and the Dutch government regards co-firing wood in existing coal plants as a quick way of increasing the overall share of renewable energy. 

If all coal plants were indeed to shut down, the percentage of renewable energy would be only 10,8% by 2020 as a consequence - falling far short of the official target of 14%.

But relying on co-firing wood has been a wrong decision from the start, believes Louise Vet. Burning wood also releases CO₂, and while planting new trees will compensate for that eventually, it takes a long time. "If we want to reduce emissions right now, burning wood is a bad idea." 

The only real beneficiaries have been the energy companies, as the Dutch co-firing policy buys them more time before they have to get rid of their polluting plants. In the meantime, the transition to real renewable energy sources such as solar and wind is actually held back.

Average household

The letter admits that the costs of closing down the coal plants would be huge - up to 800 million euros per year. But for the most part, say the academics, that would fall under the enery companies' normal "investment risks".

In addition, the government would no longer have to pay subsidies for wood combustion, and that would save up to 500 million euros per year.

At the end of the day the average Dutch household would hardly notice any difference. For them, the cost of energy would probably go up by no more than 10 euros per year - a "neglible"  amount.

According to the letter, it's a small price to pay for putting an end to "a paradox other countries find difficult to understand": that the Netherlands is at once one of the countries most at risk from climate change and one of the countries most reluctant to do anything about it.