The Hague’s Climate Plan

The Municipality of The Hague is working hard to become a CO2-neutral city by 2040. The Climate Plan (Klimaatplan Den Haag) outlines the highest priorities in terms of living, working and transportation until 2012.

Becoming a CO2-neutral city by 2040 is not an easy task and requires energy savings. Generating energy in The Hague should not lead to the release of any CO2. This means that natural gas will no longer be used to produce heat in the city but only sustainable energy sources like wind energy and solar energy.
The Energy Outlook provides answers to the question of how energy should ideally be supplied to The Hague in 2040 and what the municipality can do to realise its aims.

The 7 spearheads

The Climate Plan and the Energy Outlook aims to become CO2 neutral by putting into practice the following seven points

1. Energy savings
2. Underground heat and cold storage
3. Solar energy
4. Wind energy
5. Geothermal energy. This is the use of terrestrial heat for heating homes and businesses.
6. More district heating. An example of district heating networks is when your home is heated with hot water supplied by pipes.
7. Extraction of energy from biomass. This means, for example, that energy is extracted from burning organic material such as plant waste.

Climate Plan 2011  (PDF, 2371 kB)

What else is the municipality doing?

In addition to these seven points, the municipality is learning more about different forms of renewable energy, the economic repercussions and national developments.

In order to capitalise on the knowledge and strengths in the city, the municipality will look at whether a local renewable power company and climate centre are possible. The municipality will work together with local residents and businesses in order to realise a CO2-neutral city.

Background info

The Climate Plan for The Hague indicates the direction the municipality will take in order for The Hague to become climate-neutral in 2040. The plan differentiates between the long term (2040), middle term (2020) and short term (2012). A project overview with 19 action points for the short term was created together with various partners in the city. The goal is to reduce CO2 emissions and to share know-how and innovation in order to become climate-neutral.

Climate goals

The Hague’s climate goals are:

• a climate-neutral city in 2040 
• a 30% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2020
• 20% more sustainable energy
• 20% energy savings (compared to 1990).

For more information, visit the Dutch-language municipal site.