Construction & environment
Planbureau voor de Leefomgeving
The Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL) is the national institute for strategic policy analysis in the fields of the environment, nature and spatial planning. Organisationally it is part of central government — the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management — but under the Guidelines for the Assessment Agencies it sets its own work programme, and it conducts research both on request and on its own initiative. PBL publishes outlooks, projections, policy analyses and evaluations on climate and energy, nitrogen and nature, water, housing and spatial planning, and broad prosperity. When policy choices and effects in the physical living environment need substantiation, this is often the most authoritative source that sets no rules at all.
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What this source does not give you
PBL is research, not law and not government policy. A projection or evaluation binds no public authority, sets no standard and creates no permit condition. Its findings are moreover tied to model assumptions, a reference date and a scenario: a figure from last year's outlook is not a description of today's situation.
Frequently asked questions
- Is a PBL report a position of the Dutch government?
- No. PBL supplies strategic knowledge for policy, politics, civil-society organisations and the wider public, both on request and unprompted. A PBL publication may therefore contradict a government intention. Citing a PBL finding means citing a research institute — not the minister whose department it sits in.
- How independent is PBL if it sits under a ministry?
- PBL is organisationally part of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management, and precisely for that reason its substantive independence is separately safeguarded. The Guidelines for the Assessment Agencies establish, among other things, that PBL sets its own work programme. The agency also works for several departments and for organisations at home and abroad.
- What does BEVER use PBL for?
- BEVER queries PBL publications live when a question about the living environment needs factual or policy-analytical grounding: how a measure turned out in earlier evaluations, what trend a projection shows, how a policy target compares with the measured situation. That complements the regulations; it does not replace them.
- May I use a PBL figure in a decision or in advice?
- As substantiation yes, as a standard no. Always name the publication, the year and the scenario a figure comes from; PBL findings are model-based and scenario-dependent, and age with every new projection. If a figure becomes load-bearing for a decision, check whether a more recent publication has since appeared.