🇳🇱 Celebrating King’s Day in the Netherlands with a brand new CDR roadmap 🇳🇱

👉 On the eve of the most important Dutch holiday of the year, let’s have a deep dive on where it is heading. Timing is ideal, as the Dutch government just released their “Routekaart Koolstofverwijdering” (aka their Carbon Removal Roadmap).

So here’s my TL;DR

🎯 Carbon removals are seen as central to achieving the Dutch 2050 net-zero target. They’ve set an indicative national target of 20-25 MtCO₂ per year between 2040-2050 which is equivalent to roughly 10% of 1990 emissions. Side note: I find it fascinating what ranges countries work with. Neighbouring Germany assumes only 5%...

🏭 The roadmap evaluates various CDR technologies based on their storage permanence, scalability, and economic viability and have prioritised BECCS and mineralisation for the Netherlands.

🌬️ DACCS is prioritised overall but seen as economically uncompetitive for the Dutch context due to its energy intensity.

🤷‍♂️ Biochar carbon removal (BCR) is - as so often - widely misunderstood: low TRL, high cost (up to €1,500/t - really?), limited scale potential, and low durability. A real shame, given the Netherlands HUGE agricultural sector: 50% of its land is used for agriculture and it exports €100b a year. Where do policy makers get their info on BCR from? Always puzzles me.

📈 In terms of how to scale CDR, the Dutch government views the EU ETS as the main instrument to stimulate demand for permanent, verifiable carbon removals and outlines three strategic mechanisms for ETS alignment through each deployment phase:

1️⃣ 2023-2030: innovation and pilot funding, with regulatory baselines under development.

2️⃣ 2030-2040: market expansion and certification infrastructure building, especially within EU frameworks.

3️⃣ 2040-2050: full integration into global compliance mechanisms, with permanent CDRs playing a core role in meeting net-zero targets.

🔮 Post-2050, the Netherlands commits to continued CDR use to compensate for overshooting the global carbon budget and upholding international equity obligations.

➡️ Overall, it is great to see the Dutch putting CDR into the center of its climate and net-zero plans. And many things in this strategy are excellent, especially the gradual vision for how to scale CDR through compliance. I wish the strategy had been more tech-inclusive and better educated on BCR.

⁉️ To my Dutch colleagues and peers out there - what is your take? And how do you see this being implemented?

🧡 Oranje boven!

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