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A Green Metropole Def PDF
A Green Metropole Def PDF
“In 2014 the city will be sustainable. The quality of the public space will continue to be of a high
standard. We can do more with less energy, thanks to new technologies and home insulation. The
attention devoted to climate, energy and air quality will have resulted in effective projects, such as
electrically powered vehicles, thermal storage, innovative processing of waste and wind energy –
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projects that are not merely positive for the environment but financially beneficial as well .”
This ambition is translated into a four-year comprehensive programme “Amsterdam Definitely Sustainable
2011 – 2014” focusing on 4 pillars:
Climate and energy
Result: through energy savings, locally produced sustainable energy and efficient use of fossils we
reduce the CO2 emission within the city.
Mobility and air quality
Result: Amsterdam will be a reachable city under the condition that our transport system will be
sustainable.
Sustainable innovative economy
Result: (inter)national companies choose our city because doing sustainable business in
Amsterdam is worthwhile.
Materials and consumers
Result: Amsterdam is a liveable city where citizens and companies are using raw materials in an
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Kiezen voor de stad. Programakkoord Amsterdam 2010 – 2014, p. 8 (Choosing for the City. Programme Agreement for Amsterdam, 2010
– 2014).
effective way, living in a sustainable way and where the municipal organisation gives the right
example.
The programme reinforces the city’s investments by forging these four pillars into a cohesive
whole. In times of scarcity, monitoring is more important than ever: Is the deployment of finance and capacity
being truly effective? The Sustainability Programme takes a short- as well as a long-term view and focuses on
‘doing more with less’, not only in a financial sense but also in the use of raw materials and other scarce
resources. In addition, the programme generates support within and beyond the municipal organisation. The
cohesion and concerted action in pursuit of quality lead to a reduction in costs – certainly in the longer term –
as well as an improved living environment.
Urban solutions
The City of Amsterdam strongly believes that it’s primairely the responsibility of the city itself to develop and
implement specific urban solutions in order to realize this transition towards sustainability. And especially
because urban areas – like the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area, are uniquely positioned to lead the greening of
the global economy through improvements in transport, energy, buildings, technology, water and waste
systems, as well as producing a wide range of economic and social benefits. So it’s the responsibility of the city
to develop urban solutions.
Some of the Amsterdam urban solutions are presented in this paper:
Urban planning
Energy, Waste, Water
Sustainable mobility
Amsterdam sustainability index: insight into performance
Sustainable finance and public private partnerships
Urban planning
Amsterdam is a relatively small city with 780,000 inhabitants (and 390,000 dwellings) with a long tradition in
planning due to the fight against the water. The population is divers with 177 nationalities and very dynamic. In
the recent three years we have seen a rise of more than 30,000 citizens, half through national and international
immigration and half through a high birth rate.
Amsterdam is a compact city, which you can cross within an hour even by bike, it has got a compact settlement
pattern, no sprawl and a restrictive policy towards building in green areas. Therefore, Amsterdam is a green
city. The green wedges penetrate far into the inner city and connect to the surrounding metropolitan
landscape. Visits to the city parks and to the metropolitan landscape have increased strongly in recent years.
They contribute to the quality of life and enhance the real estate value.
We have reinvented our long tradition of planning: inspiring, connecting and activating were motivations to
our current Structural Vision 2040, which has won the ISOCARP award for excellence November 2011.
Amsterdam has a planning tradition since the golden age (example of the Canal district). And now for the first
time our structural vision changed the scope: from Amsterdam as a city to Amsterdam as core of the
Metropolitan region.This Structural vision is an integrated vision: it was co-produced by various municipal
departments and by society. In this vision, which is called “Economically strong and sustainable”, we are tying
together economic performance and sustainability challenges.
Energy strategy
The City Council’s objective is to reduce CO2 emissions by 40% by 2025, compared to the 1990 baseline.
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Amsterdam works according to the principle of the Trias Energetica, an approach that leads to optimum
reductions in CO₂ emissions. Three tracks are being pursued simultaneously in order to establish a sustainable
energy supply: energy savings, sustainable energy production and more efficient use of energy from fossil fuel.
Examples are:
Realizing a comprehensive insulation programme for the existing buildings
In the built environment there are huge gains to be achieved by pushing back energy consumption. A
large-scale insulation programme for existing dwellings will be launched during this Municipal
Council’s term in office. The initial strategy is to ‘attract, facilitate and stimulate’, in accordance with
the principles in the coalition programme. Agreements are being struck with the housing corporations
to insulate their existing housing stock.
Stimulating energy efficient datacenters
25% of all data centers in the Netherlands are located in Amsterdam. Amsterdam is also an important
ICT cluster in Europe. Amsterdam´s data centers together use approximately 10% of the electricity of
the total electricity use of Amsterdam´s 22,000 companies. It is expected that because of growing data
traffic, the sector will grow further. The availability of enough data storage and computing capacity is
considered very important by the City of Amsterdam. From this view Amsterdam is actively working
together with the industry to build new green datacenters. And Amsterdam stimulates excisting data
centers to save energy through on the one hand financial triggers and on the other hand by
enforcement (together with the Environmental Department).
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The Trias Energetica is a simple and logical concept that helps to achieve energy savings, reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, and save
the environment. Its three elements are: 1. Reduce the demand for energy by avoiding waste and implementing energy-saving measures;
2. Use sustainable sources of energy like wind, the sun, water and the ground; 3. Use fossil fuel energy as efficiently as possible and only if
sustainable sources of energy are unavailable. Source: http://www.triasenergetica.com/
Wind energy
According to Amsterdam’s ambition, in 2025 25% of Amsterdam’s electricity needs will be generated
sustainably within the city boundaries. The aim is to produce 400MW wind energy in 2040, which is
more than 334MW than is being produced now. The city council has decided that new wind turbines
will be built in Amsterdam to meet these objectives. The policy paper: “The Windvision”, proposes the
areas in which wind turbines will be built. The city council will decide upon these areas before summer
recess.
Solar energy
Amsterdam is active in removing obstacles that prevent people from getting solar energy. In particular
the question of ‘self – supply’ is of importance: the moment residents can settle their own produced
energy with their electricity bill, the so called: ‘virtual net metering’, solar energy becomes profitable.
Amsterdam pleads for virtual net metering for owners’ associations as they represent 40% of total
housing in Amsterdam. Amsterdam has started a pilot in which three owners’ associations will gain
experience with virtual net metering.
ArenA
The Amsterdam ArenA stadium already fulfils an iconic function for Amsterdam on many fronts. On 11
November 2010 the ArenA presented an integral sustainability programme. The basic principle for the
ArenA is that sustainability ought to be perceived as self-evident within the organisation. This makes
the stadium a trendsetter in Amsterdam and across the Netherlands when it comes to the ‘greening’
of an existing building and the events that are staged there.
Climate-neutral new-build
From 2015 all new construction in the city must be climate-neutral, whether housing or commercial
and industrial buildings. This means that the building-related energy consumption will be reduced as
far as possible by means of insulation (while retaining proper ventilation) and the remaining energy
demand will be met from sustainable sources.
Sustainable mobility
Bicycle city
Bikes are seen as the poor man's vehicle in many countries. However, this is not the case in the Netherlands
and in particular, in Amsterdam. The bicycle is simply the fastest, most flexible and fun way to get around. It is
embedded in our culture. Inhabitants of Amsterdam together cycle 2 million km daily. 73% of all inhabitants
owns a bicycle. The share of bicycle in the choice of transport in Amsterdam is 39%; public transport 24% and
car 37%. There is 513 km of separated bicycle lanes in Amsterdam. Essential elements of our policy:
Make cycling self-evident and communicate the advantages
Start young: every Dutch child learns how to ride a bike. It should be part of each child’s upbringing, in
schools. Advantages: it’s fast, especially in a compact city like Amsterdam; it’s also flexible because
parking is possible close to the destination; it’s cheap and healty.
Start with making clear and logical local bicycle policy
Creating a grid of the most important (potential) cycling routes, and formulating criteria to make them
cycle friendly (quality requirements for the main bicycle network). Focusing on the most logical and
most-used routes and researching who will potentially use these routes.
Make road safety for cyclists a priority
In the Netherlands, all children receive traffic education and most take cycling exams. Special cycling
programmes in Amsterdam involve parents, teachers and school children. They have proven to be
very successful.
Make the bicycle more attractive by making other transport modalities less attractive
A parking permit system was introduced to make the Amsterdam city centre more accessible. The
total number of permits is limited and car owners without a permit are required to pay to park their
car. On reflection this was a major contributor to the number of people choosing to travel by bike.
Stimulate cycling by making it easily accessible
“Public transport bikes” are available in the Netherlands. These are rental bikes that make it easier to
use bicycles at railway stations as part of a public transport chain.
Electric mobility
In this young, dynamic market, in the first years the government has an important role as guide, motivator and
facilitator. Amsterdam has taken that role and is currently the world leader, with the planned rollout of 1,000
charging stations and the ambition of 10,000 electric cars in 2015. This makes Amsterdam an attractive area for
companies to further develop business on electric mobility. Amsterdam realised already the highest charge
density points of the world: 350 public charging stations in the city, 1000 in February 2013. Two public fast-
charging points and a couple more from private investors around the city. Agreements with car manufacturers
Nissan/Renault, Mitsubishi and PSA Citroen to jointly promote electric transport and supply electric cars to
Amsterdam Metropolitan Area. First 10 electric taxis in March 2011, 500 in 2015. And furthermore:
Economic opportunities for electric transport in Amsterdam
Because the car companies want to offer security to their product, they are still cautious when
bringing it into a larger production. First they want to eliminate uncertainties. They want to know how
the electric car reacts and evolves. The existing infrastructure and cooperation offered by the
municipality of Amsterdam takes away some of those uncertainties.
Ideal testing ground, and ideal area for business development
Pioneers such as Nissan, Opel, Mitsubishi, Renault and BMW chose the Randstad (and in four of five
cases even Amsterdam) as a venue for the launch of their first electric models on the European
market. There is no competition of Dutch car manufacturers, and secondly because they find in
Amsterdam an extensive and reliable charging network their cars can actually use. For the same
reasons Daimler launched in november 2011 the 100% electric car sharing program car2go in
Amsterdam, with 300 electric cars available for daily use.
What does Amsterdam in the offer?
Amsterdam (municipal and private sector) have in recent years built up valuable knowledge and a nice
lead. It is now important to maintain this advantage and reap its benefits. Amsterdam on electric
transport offers the following: Large multinationals that either have knowledge or money (to) invest,
or already work on the electrification of their fleet: ABN-AMRO, Rabobank, KLM, ING, Athlon, Ahold /
Albert, Accenture.
Amsterdam sustainability index: insight into performance
The contribution of the activities the four pillars spawn will be quantified wherever possible. Making the
city stronger and more efficient is achieved on the basis of a careful analysis, linked with implementation
and the specification of the results. Linking expenditure to performance and achievements is an
inescapable and necessary stipulation – certainly in these economic times. With proper monitoring the
city can share good examples from its own practice with its partners and can likewise draw lessons from
its partners. Amsterdam benchmarks its own performance and welcomes comparisons with other
European cities.
For each pillar, the desired results for 2014 are associated with one or several indicators. These indicators
will contribute to the Sustainability Index which was recently completed, an index that provides an outline
of the headway being achieved in the implementation of the sustainability programme at a glance. For
the Climate & Energy and Sustainable Mobility & Air Quality pillars, the indicators are primarily
quantitative in nature. For the Sustainable, Innovative Economy and Materials & Consumers pillars, some
of the indicators and the associated results are more qualitative. This is determined by the current phase
in development of the projects within these pillars. The results of the monitoring will be reported in
accordance with the Planning & Control cycle. The total index figure represents the level of sustainable
development within the city. The table below shows the results 2010 and the indexfigure. 2010 is the
baseline year so the indexfigure is 100. A lower figure means better performance on sustainable
developments. Amsterdam is now in the process of preparing the sustainability report 2011 which will
form an integrated part of the annual municipal year report.
General Indicators 2010 Index figure
2010
1 CO2 emission per inhabitant 6.57 100
Annual CO2 emissions in ton CO2 per inhabitant
(source: CO2–monitor, inhabitants: department for Research and
Statistics)
2 NOx emission per inhabitant 64.5 100
Average concentration NO2 + average concentration NO by 10
3
measuring stations in μg/m (source: measures air quality by Health
Department)
Climate and Energy
3 Energyuse households per inhabitant 16.9 100
Annual energy use inhabitants in GJ per inhabitant. (source: Liander)
4 Sustainable energyproduction per inhabitant (inverse) 2.66 100
Annual sustainable energyproduction in GJ per inhabitant (source:
annual yearreport Waste and Energy Company, programbureau Climate
& Energy)
Sustainable Mobility and Air Quality
5 Bicycle share in modal split (inverse) 49 100
% bycyle in total amount of “Singelgracht” movements of bycle +
moped + motor + car. (source: Department of Transport and
Infrastructure)
6 Share clean trucks and lorry (inverse) 48 100
(% trucks and lorry with standard “Euro 4” or cleaner engine/2. (source:
TNO)
Sustainable Innovative Economy
7 Attractiveness Amsterdam for new companies 6 100
Rankinglist European Cities Monitor (ECM) (source: Cushman &
Wakefield)
8 Energy use per added value 8.05 100
Use of elektricity and natural gas in MJ per euro added value.
(source: Liander, TNO, Department for Research and Statistics)
Materials and Consumers
9 Amount residual waste from households per inhabitant 324 100
Residual waste from housholds in kg per inhabitant
(source: annual year report Waste and Energy Company)
10 Liveability indicator (inverse) 7.12 100
Figure between 1 and 10 answered by inhabitants given the question
“How satisfied are you with your own neighbourhood?” (source: “Living
in Amsterdam”)
Sustainable indexfigure 100
Sustainable finance and public private partnerships
Sustainable development asks for different financial models. Interventions take different forms ranging from
subsidies and loans to the use of tailor made financial engineering instruments. Much depends on where the
initiative is taken, where the ownership (i.e. Housing) lies, involvement of the private sector in various
partnerships, and the role of other levels of government. One of the most important questions is what cities
can do themselves within the (legal) frameworks in which they will have to operate. Amsterdam has experience
on the use of different financial models with a focus on participations, loans and revolving investments.
Important part of the Amsterdam approach are public private partnerships.
The Amsterdam Sustainable Financial District:
www.amsterdam.nl/duurzaam