A delegation from the Dutch Urgenda Foundation, which aims to speed up the transition towards a sustainable society, visited NIOO on Friday. The visit marked the launch of a new measure promoting green roofs, as well as NIOO director Louise Vet's appointment as chair of the Urgenda board.

The green roofs measure is part of a broader package aimed at reaching out to the Dutch government, in order to help it achieve the substantial reduction in CO2-emissions it is legally bound to following a pioneering courtcase brought and won by Urgenda in 2015.

Green roofs

NIOO's own green roof provided a suitable backdrop for the formal presentation of the new Urgenda measure to Karl Kupka, a senior official from the Dutch Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations.

According to Urgenda, having plants on 10 per cent of the Netherlands' flat roofs would realise a reduction of 0.1 megatons of CO2 equivalent.

The story behind the roof itself was told by NIOO's director, Louise Vet, who has just taken over the position of Urgenda chair from climate scientist Pier Vellinga.

Biodiversity

Vet talked about the scientific experiments being carried out on the roof both by NIOO itself and by partners including Plant-e, which is using living plants to generate electricity.

According to Urgenda, the appointment of the NIOO-director - who has also been a driving force behind the pioneering Delta Plan for Biodiversity Recovery - signals a new emphasis in the foundation's work on biodiversity.

Urgenda identifies biodiversity as a key factor in the fight against climage change, both directly and indirectly.