Innovations for a carbon free Dutch housing stock in 2050

Abstract

In 2017 the new Dutch coalition government agreed on high ambitions for the reduction of CO2 emissions to meet the Paris agreement and policies to achieve this were detailed in a Climate Agreement between the government and many stakeholder organisation in June 2019. In 2030 CO2 emissions have to be reduced to 49% compared to 1990. In 2050 we should have a CO2 emission free and energy neutral built environment. The existing housing stock plays a major role in the realisation of these goals. The Dutch housing stock comprises of 7.5 million dwellings. The majority of which has a rather bad thermal energy condition and are mainly heated by natural gas. All these houses have to be renovated to a nearly zero carbon performance. By 2021 yearly more than 50,000 new homes per year will have to be delivered on nZEB level without a natural gas connection and at least 50,000 existing dwellings will have to be made gas-free per year. These are steps towards 200,000 zero carbon renovations per year, a pace that is needed to make the entire stock carbon free in the 30 years up to 2050. To support these goals a large innovation programme is currently being developed. This paper presents the required innovations. Research on the impact of the policies and measures applied in the recent years point to the challenges that have to be overcome. A particular challenge is to realize the intended performance and really save energy and reduce CO2 emissions on a large scale.