Analysis
Amsterdam's
sustainable plans come as called
The city council
launched five big sustainability plans. What's the corona crisis going to do
with that? Or does it offer an opportunity? 'A lot of hands are needed in a
circular economy.'
Bart van Zoelen21 april 2020, 11:24
It was supposed
to be a green spring. With these words, GreenLeft Alderman Sustainability
Marieke van Doorninck looked forward to spring in January. Finally, she was
able to unfold the detailed plans of the city council that took office in 2018.
It started in
February with the intention to generate a large part of the electricity for
Amsterdammers within the municipality with seventeen new windmills and hundreds
of thousands of solar panels. In February, the alderman came up with a 'road
map' that shows how the city will reach 55 percent less greenhouse gases by
2030.
This month, she
launched three more-inch environmental plans, with first a vision developed per
neighborhood on how the city can switch to heating without natural gas until
2040. This was followed by plans for more waste separation and a 'circular
economy', in which waste no longer exists – a vision strongly influenced by the
world famous 'doughnut economist' Kate Raworth.
Mordicus against
But now the world
looks very different than in 2018, when these green plans were put under the
spotlight after the election victory of GroenLinks. At the City Hall of
Amsterdam, of course, no account was taken of a pandemic that paralyses the
world economy.
Under the
violence of the corona crisis, climate plans and other sustainable ambitions
are rapidly disappearing into the background. After all, this was the case from
2008, after the previous global crisis. The sharpfall in oil prices makes
investment in green energy a lot less attractive in one fell. And then there's
the excruciating uncertainty that keeps everyone's hand on the cut.
In the city
council it feeds the doubt among the opposition. Forum for Democracy was
already strongly opposed and the VVD will also question the intention to green
faster than the rest of the Netherlands in a debate on the roadmap on Tuesday
evening.
VVDduo
councillor Stijn Nijssen was horrified
when he asked the alderman last week what it will cost society if Amsterdam
wants to get rid of natural gas as early as 2040, ten years earlier than the
rest of the country. The answer: EUR 9 billion.
That was a wild
estimate from a study that had already been sent to the city council in 2018,
but still. "Are these ambitions ideologically driven? Are they still
feasible and pragmatic?" wonders Nijssen. "You can't be blind to
what's happening in the world." Because of the corona crisis.
Nevertheless, Van
Doorninck has continued its plans this month as if nothing is going on, but not
because the city council is closing its eyes to the corona crisis. Contrary.
Both the transition to energy-efficient heating and the circular economy around
repair and reuse bring additional jobs, the idea is. So the sustainability
plans come as called.
Quick deployment
"A lot of
hands are needed in a circular economy," the alderman said on monday
evening during an online talk show in Warehouse De Zwijger. "Even though
it may sound strange and our heads are not at all, we have an employment plan
that can be deployed quickly."
From England,
Raworthsaid: "Since the beginning of this century, we have been facing
several crises: the financial crisis, the climate crisis and now the corona
crisis. You can't fix one and keep the rest waiting. It's nonsensical to
rebuild the economy as it was. There was no more powerful moment imaginable
than this moment."
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