Netherlands – Zero Emission Zones

Amsterdam has announced that from 2025 onward all engine powered craft with “city limits” must be climate neutral (= electric). Likely that this will be followed by other municipalities with inner city canals.There are no national incentives to promote electric powered craft.There is a growing popularity with boat rental operators to rent out electric powered craft, partly due to the fact they are renting boats in nature park areas, other the political climate in the Netherlands which makes one look “green” (= good). Not for marine. Interestingly enough the Dutch government is tuning down the incentives on electric mobility, with even talks of introducing usage taxes (ie road tax) for EV as ICE powered vehicles reduce in number. The creation of electric drive only zones is up to local municipalities or province, there is no national coordinated approach. Finding where electric drive zones are is very difficult. The city of Amsterdam has announced it will allow only electric drives on the inner city canals from 2020. Latest development in the Netherlands is a high court ruling on NOx, which has now brought many (infrastructure) projects to a grinding halt (127 large government projects, thousands of small private projects).