Background information

The Energy Transition Covenant Greenhouse Horticulture 2022-2030 is an elaboration of the greenhouse horticulture paragraph C4.6 of the Climate Agreement of 28 June 2019, the Coalition Agreement 2022 and current national, and European climate policies. The greenhouse horticulture energy transition covenant 2022-2030 includes the ambition to achieve a climate-neutral and economically profitable greenhouse horticulture sector by 2040. The covenant was signed by the government and branche organisations Glasshouse Horticulture Netherlands and Greenports Netherlands.

Content of measure

Following the agreements in the covenant, last year the greenhouse horticulture residual emission target was set at at 4.3 Mton CO2 equivalents in 2030. This target is 1 Mton sharper than the target as included in the Rutte IV coalition agreement. In combination with the other measures in the cohesive package, this target is secured by pricing via the CO2 tax on greenhouse horticulture as included in the Wet fiscale klimaatmaatregelen glastuinbouw (Act on fiscal climate measures for greenhouse horticulture).

The government has made funds available from the Climate Fund to stimulate the energy transition of greenhouse horticulture in order to meet the residual emission target in 2030. First, €300 million has been made available for a new subsidy scheme for heat infrastructure up to and including 2030. The development of the Greenhouse Horticulture Heat Infrastructure Subsidy (SWiG) has now been completed. This scheme was published in the Government Gazette at the end of 2023 and will be open for the first time from 1 February to 30 August 2024. For now, it is with an amount of €12.5 million.

Secondly, €200 million has been made available until 2030 for the Energy Efficiency Glasshouse Horticulture (EC) subsidy scheme, which promotes energy saving in glasshouse horticulture. The subsidy will take into account the energy-saving obligation that has been in force for greenhouse horticulture since last year. The starting point is that no subsidy will be provided for techniques that companies are obliged to adopt.

Use of measure

According to the CE Delft report (November 2024), the greenhouse horticulture sector's ability to use the support measures introduced under the 2022–2030 Covenant depends heavily on the pace of infrastructure development. The study estimates that under favourable conditions, residual emissions could be reduced to between 2.6 and 4.4 Mt CO₂ by 2030, suggesting that a large part of the sector could effectively benefit from the SWiG and EC subsidy schemes if infrastructure is in place. However, significant bottlenecks exist. Without acceleration of energy infrastructure (e.g. geothermal and rest heat distribution systems), many growers may be unable to switch to sustainable alternatives, despite financial incentives. This limits the real-world use of the measures, especially in areas with constrained grid capacity and delayed permit procedures.

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Does not apply to workers	Sector specific set of companies	Does not apply to citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
National government Employers' organisations	National funds

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	No involvement	Agreed (outcome) incl. social partner initiative
Form	Not applicable	Direct consultation outside a formal body

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• Only employers' organisations
• Main level of involvement: Sectoral or branch level

Involvement

This is a covenant between the employers' organisations and the government, so the social partners from the employers' side were directly involved. The trade unions were not.

Views and reactions

Stakeholders within the sector, including Glastuinbouw Nederland and Greenports Nederland, broadly support the Covenant and associated fiscal measures. However, according to CE Delft, concerns were raised during expert consultations and klankbordgroep (advisory group) meetings in 2024 about the feasibility of achieving the 2030 targets under current infrastructure timelines. Participants highlighted that financial instruments alone are insufficient if key structural barriers such as long permit procedures and limited network capacity are not addressed. Sectoral representatives emphasised the urgent need to accelerate infrastructure roll-out and coordination to enable the uptake of subsidised measures and reach the sector’s decarbonisation goals.

Sectors and occupations

This case is not occupation-specific.

Sources

• 06 December 2022: Convenant Energietransitie Glastuinbouw 2022-2030 (www.rijksoverheid.nl)
• 01 April 2025: Ontwikkelingen energie-infrastructuur voor de glastuinbou (ce.nl)