Horst Aan De Maas's Application
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Application Form for the European Green Leaf Award 2019 z Section A City Introduction & Context Use this section to provide an overview of the city and provide context to the items that are addressed in Sections B and C. Give an overview of your city including its population, surface area, population density, geographical location, some historical and economic background (e.g. GDP, €/capita), notable features and any other factors which have influenced or will influence the environment of the city and its surrounding area. What are the key environmental challenges the city faces (or has addressed in the recent past)? Make reference to the city’s infrastructure (transport, water and drainage, buildings, parks etc.). If appropriate, mention any significant legal proceedings on environmental issues. Please describe the services provided by the municipality relevant to the Topic Areas in Section B. The aim of this section is to assist in understanding the responsibilities of the city, its controls and the ability of the city to act and effect change. Please include an up to date map of the city and a maximum of one additional image i.e. a maximum of two images in total including the map. The map should show the layout of urban areas, geographical and other features, across the city. (max. 600 words and two graphics or images) The municipality of Horst aan de Maas (hereafter: HadM) is situated in the south of the Netherlands, in the northern part of the Province of Limburg. The municipality covers a total surface of 19.192 ha, of which 18.871 ha is land and 320 ha is water. HadM counts 42.183 citizens in 2017 and the population density is 221 per km2. HadM is the biggest municipality considering surface of the Province of Limburg. In 2001, the three municipalities Broekhuizen, Horst and Grubbenvorst joined together. From 2001 onwards, the name of the municipality was changed to Horst aan de Maas, since the municipality adjoined the river the Maas. In 2010 the municipality enlarged again, when the municipality Sevenum and the villages Meerlo, Tienray and Swolgen joined. As of today, the relatively new municipality consists of sixteen different urban cores. 1 Application Form for the European Green Leaf Award 2019 Overview of the municipality of HadM with its urban cores One could perhaps conclude that since the merge of HadM with neighbouring municipalities, HadM is a divided community. However, nothing could be further from the truth, since this merge with other municipalities only made the mutual bond stronger. The identity of every urban core is harboured and embraced, which has resulted into a unified yet diverse community. HadM can be described as a very enterprising, active and united municipality. Within HadM, Initiatives are often derived from the citizens and the municipality supports them in any way possible. It is therefore that the slogan of HadM is ‘enterprising by nature’. Moreover, the municipality aspires to become the Healthiest Region of 2025, which also arose from a citizens’ initiative. The strong collaboration between urban cores has been passed on from previous centuries, during which the inhabitants of the agricultural villages needed to work together to survive. Moreover, 2 Application Form for the European Green Leaf Award 2019 the agricultural mindset causes that it is considered normal to reuse materials, leading to a well- functioning circular economy. HadM is often described as a very trustworthy and stable municipality, one that always attempts to keep its promises towards its people. When it comes to sustainability projects, the municipality is developing itself more rapidly than surrounding municipalities. The involvement of schools and higher education in these projects is essential, in order to make future entrepreneurs more aware of their surroundings and how to take care of their environment. Schooltrip in the nature: educating children in HadM Additionally, the municipality is thriving economically as well, this can be seen from various statistics. An example for the latter is the fact that less than 4% of the inhabitants is unemployed, which is the lowest rate in the Province of Limburg. Agriculture is the main economic sector in HadM, a few examples to illustrate: 33% of all mushrooms, 80% of all roses and 50 % of all blueberries produced in the Netherlands originate from the municipality. The municipality participated in the Floriade in 2012, which is the biggest horticulture exposition in the world. The event attracted 22.000 visitors each day for six months, making it a huge success. The municipality is supporting and realising a great deal of projects and initiatives related to sustainability, which will all be explained in detail in section B. The Dutch government recognises the successes of HadM, by acknowledging that HadM was amongst the fastest rising municipalities with regards to sustainability. Furthermore, the municipality was awarded the Waste Separation Award three times in the past five years by Nedvang, which is an institution that monitors waste separation 3 Application Form for the European Green Leaf Award 2019 and consults organisations thereof. The municipality does not simply opt for the cheapest and easiest approach to complete a project, but opts for Green Public Procurement, which is best for its citizens and environment. 4 Application Form for the European Green Leaf Award 2019 Section B: Topic areas . Please note you must complete ALL topic areas in this Section. Section B is used in the evaluation/ranking process. Topic Area 1: Climate Change and Energy Performance Note: Your answers to sub-sections 1a and b together must not exceed a total of 600 and 300 words respectively (i.e. 600 word limit for section a and 300 word limit for section b). A total of six graphics, images or tables may be included in Topic Area 1. Note: It is important to address Climate Change and Energy Performance equally in the response. 1a – Current Situation and Strategic Approach Please outline the present situation, e.g. the relevant infrastructure and systems that are in place. The aim of this section is to show how the present situation has been achieved and what kind of measures or programmes have been implemented so far. You may include information on any relevant disadvantages or constraints resulting from historical, geographical and/or socio-economic factors. Please describe evolutions that have taken place over the last five to ten years. Comment on which measures have been most effective. Please add relevant background information, performance statistics, dedicated budgets or innovative forms of financing and key outcomes (e.g. greenhouse gas emissions, adaptation to climate change, renewable energy, energy efficiency etc.). Highlight the need for the project/measure/initiative and any achieved or expected benefits from its implementation. Please also state clearly what year the data provided relates to. If data or figures are not available at a local level please state this in the application. Please outline your city’s overall approach to improve Climate Change and Energy Performance. Please include: . Principles that have governed the development of the plan/programme; . Key Objectives and Targets (e.g. estimated reduction in greenhouse gas emissions; measures to increase resilience to the impacts of climate change); . If available, please compare the specified targets of greenhouse gas emissions or renewable and energy efficiency for e.g. 2020 with past trends. Where plans/programmes have been developed at a level above the city level i.e. regional, national etc. it is important to provide information on the plans/programmes and how they impact on the city and/or are implemented at the city level. Word Limit - 600 Words 5 Application Form for the European Green Leaf Award 2019 Regarding climate change and energy performance, the municipality currently works on a number of advanced and promising projects. The most prominent sector in Horst aan de Maas is the glass-horticulture sector. In 2014, the companies in this sector covered 42% of the energy consumption and therefore, during the past few years, HadM has put a strong focus on pursuing the sustainability of these companies, which has led to the unique initiative of geothermics. Since 2013, the glass-horticulture area called Californië cooperates with the local company Wijnen Square Crops. This is the first location in The Netherlands where geothermics has been applied successfully to the glass-horticulture. Additionally, this has led to a 95% decrease of CO2-emission for the pepper cultivation, which consequently means that this sector hardly depends on fossil fuels anymore. Moreover, Wijnen Square Crops already meets the 2050 EU CO2- requirements, and can be seen as a perfect example for similar companies. The latter clearly shows how the municipality aims at taking advantages of opportunities which HadM possesses. This system can be regarded as a substitution of the EU-ETS systems, which are recommended by the European Union. As the CO2 -emission in HadM comes for a large part from the glass-horticulture sector, the current measures taken by the municipality are more likely to be successful in comparison to the EU-ETS systems. Additionally, the municipality is constantly working on increasing the benefits of the system, for example by using the geothermic water for cooling the fruit and vegetables auction ZON. A drilling platform next to greenhouses 6 Application Form for the European Green Leaf Award 2019 Farmers with vegetables to be auctioned at ZON For HadM, the CO2-reduction in kilograms per inhabitant was 264 in 2014, whereas the rest of the Netherlands in a comparable class of high-rise buildings had a CO2-reduction of 151. This notable difference is mainly due to the low amount of residual waste burnt within the municipality compared to the rest of The Netherlands. Construction of the earth heat distribution system 7 Application Form for the European Green Leaf Award 2019 Since HadM aims to decrease the CO2-emission over the coming years, the following plans and programs are set in action to realise this.