Call to action: collaborate to make significant progress faster 

The transition to renewable energy must be fully completed by 2050. The related objective of achieving a 60% reduction in CO₂ emissions by 2030 will be very challenging. The shift to a sustainable and much more decentralised energy system requires a major redesign of that system, a redesign that needs to be completed in less than nine years. That is a very short time frame for a large-scale modification of the Dutch energy infrastructure This means that as joint stakeholders at the national, regional and local levels, we need to rapidly identify and itemise the design of the energy system and the necessary infrastructure: what will come where and when? The transition also needs to be carefully managed. It is clear that the pace needs to pick up sharply if we are to meet the 2030 goals, particularly in view of the complex societal playing field in which we operate. So, coordination and control are crucial, to ensure that we can all make significant progress faster.

In addition, it is essential to have sufficient manpower and a forceful and effective organisation in order to make design choices together, to jointly determine priorities in terms of what we build first, what comes later and what may not be needed at all, and to greatly accelerate the spatial planning process.

Last year, good progress was made in the collaboration with partners, leading to an increasing number of national programmes for supporting the work in the regions. Together with sector umbrella organisations, we looked at how the need for energy infrastructure is evolving in the first version of the Cluster Energy Strategies (CES). In addition, we drew up a charging infrastructure map with the regional and local public transport authorities (DOVA) that identifies potential charging point locations for zero emission buses. Network operators can access the registered charging requirement and work with the public transport authority to determine the most appropriate solution for that charging requirement. In the regions, we set up regional infrastructure task forces with provincial authorities and municipalities in order to work effectively on infrastructure improvements.