The Netherlands is progressing towards zero emission construction equipment. This is crucial for climate, natural spaces, and improving the health of our inhabitants and construction workers. The Dutch Program for Zero Emission Construction Equipment (in Dutch: Schoon en Emissieloos Bouwen “SEB”) brings together governments, industry stakeholders, and knowledge institutions to collaborate on enhancing the sustainability of construction equipment.
Roadmap for Zero Emission Construction Equipment
The program includes the Roadmap for Zero Emission Construction Equipment (Roadmap ZECE), established in 2023. This Roadmap ZECE outlines how targets for nitrogen, CO2, and particulate matter can be met. With a view to providing clarity to market parties and public authorities, the roadmap presents a multiannual approach for incrementally reducing construction industry emissions in the years to 2030. It specifies and describes measures that can be taken to achieve emissions reduction in effective, feasible and affordable ways.
Voluntary Agreement Clean and Zero-Emission Construction
Through the Voluntary Agreement Clean and Zero-Emission Construction, participating parties commit to implementing the Roadmap ZECE.
The agreement has now been signed by over 100 parties, including:
- The central government and national agencies responsible for the construction and maintenance of national infrastructure and government buildings.
- 38 municipalities, all 12 provinces, and 21 water authorities
- About 5 major commissioning bodies, including the Port of Rotterdam, TenneT, and Schiphol.
- 25 key business networks and industry bodies representing the construction sector.
Requirements
The core of the measures involves applying emission requirements to construction equipment used in construction, maintenance, and demolition projects. These requirements are enforced through tendering processes and the granting of permits for projects and are differentiated per power range, and types of construction equipment (machinery, road vehicles, floating equipment). By 2030, a significant portion of mobile machinery and road vehicles will be required to be zero-emission, and in 2035 nearly all deployed construction equipment will be zero-emission. The requirements can be found in Annexe 1 of the Voluntary Agreement Clean and Zero-Emission Construction.
Supportive tools
To assist parties in implementing and promoting the transition to sustainable construction equipment, the program provides several supportive tools:
- The ZECE Subsidy scheme:
- Acquisition of zero-emission construction equipment
- Retrofit or conversion of existing equipment
- Innovation related to zero-emission construction equipment and associated charging infrastructure.
- Financial support:
- Municipalities, provinces, and water authorities can request financial support if zero-emission equipment is used in a construction project they have tendered (specifically for partners of the agreement).
- Resources for national agencies for zero-emission procurement of construction equipment in projects.
- Funding for charging infrastructure:
- Support for developing charging infrastructure as part of tools mentioned above.
- Support program for local governments
- Assists provinces, municipalities, and water authorities in implementing the Roadmap ZECE and making necessary adjustments to work processes.
- Knowledge Development and Scaling program
- Focuses on knowledge development, innovation, scaling, and practical experience.
More information
Below you can find more information (in English) on the program:
- Summary of the Roadmap Zero Emission Construction Equipment
- Conclusions research on pilot projects that took place in 2021 - 2023
For more information or to get in touch, please contact us.