All of Moerdijk to Be Natural Gas-Free

The Netherlands is phasing out natural gas. By 2050, all homes must be “off gas,” as agreed by the Dutch government in 2019 in the National Climate Agreement. We are also working toward this goal in the municipality of Moerdijk.

InMoerdijk, Zevenbergschen Hoek, Langeweg, andHelwijk, residentshavealready begun making plans for sustainable energy for their villages. The other villages and towns in Moerdijk will also get started in the coming years.
Residents are collaborating on this with the municipality, housing providers such as Woonkwartier, and other organizations, such asEnergiek Moerdijk. Together, they are exploring how a neighborhood or village can be heated in a different way. This is known as the heat transition.

Why go natural gas-free?

In the Netherlands, most people heat their homes with natural gas. Burning gas contributes to global warming. A warmer climate means more extreme weather: more intense downpours, but also longer periods of drought and heat. This causes problems, such as flooding and crop failures. That’s why we’re phasing out gas: the entire Netherlands will become natural gas-free. The longer we wait, the bigger the problem becomes. This means we’ll have to take increasingly expensive measures, such as raising the dikes and importing more food from other countries.

Working Together on a Plan

Municipalities are now receiving funding from the government to help people make their homes natural gas-free. If we start on time and work together effectively, we can determine the best solution for each neighborhood or village. We’ll set out that solution and the associated agreements in a so-called Neighborhood Implementation Plan (WUP), or, in the case of windmill villages, a Wind Village Implementation Plan. We’ll then carry out that plan.