The municipality of Utrecht has presented plans that would improve the air quality of the city. By expanding the zero-emission zone and banning wood-burning stoves and fireplaces, the Dutch city is taking steps towards a healthier environment.
As the largest source of pollution in Utrecht, traffic is one of the main targets for reduction. The municipality wants a step-by-step expansion of the environmental and zero-emission zones. For example, vehicles that run on diesel such as cars, vans, trucks, and buses that do not meet the set emission standards, will no longer be allowed in the whole of Utrecht from 2027. Currently, the environmental zone in Utrecht only applies to the city centre.
From 2030, the zero-emission zone will be expanded to include all vans and trucks, as well as mopeds and scooters, throughout the city. This would mean that only drivers with vehicles that produce no harmful emissions will be allowed on the roads in Utrecht.
According to the municipality, wood burning is one of the biggest sources of polluting particulate matter. As one of the only causes of pollution that hasn’t seen a decrease in emissions in the past few years, the city plans on banning all new flues in housing that is newly built as they work towards a city completely free from wood-burning by 2030.
Particulate matter from burning wood and nitrogen dioxide emitted from diesel vehicles pollutes the air and is harmful to the health of people, nature and the environment. For this reason, the city wants to go further than the legal European standards to achieve the stricter World Health Organisation (WHO) advisory values from 2021.
“We are raising the bar to protect the health of Utrecht residents,” stated Alderman Eva Oosters. “Air pollution has a huge impact, from lung problems to cardiovascular diseases. Clean air is not a luxury, but a necessity.”
The city’s plans have been presented in a policy document to the council which will decide on them later and announce an implementation programme. “These steps, such as the wood burning ban and the expansion of the environmental zone, are ambitious but essential,” said Oosters.
As of January 1, 2025, 14 Dutch municipalities have plans to ban vans and trucks of emission class 4 and those that are older than 15 years from the city centres. This will happen in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, Amersfoort, Zwolle, Delft, Utrecht, Tilburg, Leiden, Assen, Eindhoven, Gouda, Maastricht and Nijmegen.
The coalition parties submitted a proposal to postpone the implementation of zero-emission zones in the cities until at least 2027. However, according to NOS, the municipalities have announced in a joint statement that they will continue with their plans despite this.
"Preparations for zero-emission zones started ten years ago. It cannot be the case that the introduction is delayed two months before the start date because a new coalition thinks differently," said Frits van Bruggen, chairman of the RAI association. According to the State Secretary Chris Jansen, the municipalities are within their rights to implement the new regulations from next year.