In Dutch
Energy for All: A Human-Centred Approach for the Sustainability Transition in the Built Environment
SER advisory report
Energy for All: A Human-Centred Approach for the Sustainability Transition in the Built Environment
We want greater control over our energy bills, reduce our carbon footprint, be less dependent on fossil fuel sources and strengthen our resilience. From the perspective of broad prosperity, investing in the energy transition is therefore of the utmost importance. This makes a positive contribution to our living environment, our future earning capacity, our socio-economic security and our autonomy. The coming period is going to be crucial.
The Role of Households and Small Businesses
When it comes to the energy transition, technology and systems receive a lot of attention, but the people who have to live with and realise the transition do not get less consideration. Nevertheless, the involvement of citizens and small businesses is crucial to give a boost to the energy transition. This SER advisory report therefore focuses on the ability to act of these groups. This target group is particularly relevant, as Dutch policy places a great deal of responsibility on households and small businesses to become more sustainable. And because the sustainability transition of the built environment also particularly touches on wider societal and social challenges, such as countering health ailments or learning gaps as a result of living in a cold, draughty or damp home. I also have business owners in mind, whose business activities are disrupted due to renovation work on the business premises.
Making Sustainability More Achievable
Households and businesses often possess the will to become sustainable, but in practice they encounter a wide range of barriers. If we wish to maintain momentum in the energy transition, we will have to pay a great deal more attention to the question as to what households and small businesses need in order to join in. How do we make sure that investing in sustainability is more appealing and achievable? For a start, we need consistent and appropriate policies that accelerate implementation and keep the goal of climate neutrality in 2050 in mind.
The 2026–2030 coalition agreement ‘Let’s get to work: Building a better Netherlands’ is promising, in that it focuses on a strengthened and structural approach to making the built environment sustainable. This also requires proper monitoring and assessment, so that unintended effects of the policy, delays in the implementation and a decrease in willingness to invest on the part of households and businesses can be picked up and dealt with in time. ‘Let’s get to work’ also means that they must be able to join in the changes.