Hans Stegeman

Dutch Vice Minister for Development Steven Collet shares how the Netherlands is engaging the private sector to fund and drive climate adaptation efforts. #climatefinance #climateadaptation #Netherlands #globaldevelopment

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NETHERLANDS | DB-to-CDC TRANSITION The Netherlands transition from a traditional Defined Benefit (DB) system to a Collective Defined Contribution (CDC) system aims to maintain sustainability amid demographic changes, such as increasing life expectancy and demands for system transparency. The CDC model retains collective risk-sharing, balancing security and adaptability. A "Solidarity Buffer" will be part of one type of plan under the Dutch CDC system, designed to stabilize pension payouts and address intergenerational equity. The focus is on maintaining a stable annuity for retirees and risk-sharing among participants. The New CDC system will shift more responsibility onto program participants; the new challenge is to ensure that the system communicates effectively with participants, particularly in terms of how investment returns and risks affect their future pension benefits.

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In today’s world, the most radical investment is not one that fuels instability, but one that supports stability, resilience and peace, argues Hans Stegeman, Chief Economist at Triodos Bank. He urges investors to rethink their priorities: "Anchor your investments in real-world assets that build resilience, such as renewable energy, circular material flows, sustainable food and inclusive communities rather than chasing short-term financial returns.” 🔗 Read his full insight on our website: https://lnkd.in/eNdwgWe3 #SustainableFinance #ImpactInvesting #TippingPoints #AnchoringCapital #MarcroEconomics #EconomicResilience

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The “Size Seekers’ Dilemma” in Voluntary Sustainability Standards More and more sustainability standards compete for market adoption, but they do not all play the same game. A useful typology from Ingenbleek, Binnekamp & Goddijn (2007) distinguishes four types of criteria-formulating organizations (CFOs) based on two dimensions: • The level of requirements (low ↔ high) • The breadth of sustainability issues covered (narrow ↔ broad) This creates four strategic positions as shown in the figure below: - Low flyers – low requirements, narrow scope. Easy entry, little transformation. Sometimes they are called 'window dressers'. - Case-solvers – high requirements but focused on specific issues. - Idealists – broad and ambitious sustainability agendas. - Size seekers – aim for large-scale market adoption, usually by keeping requirements relatively accessible. At first glance, the size seeker strategy seems powerful: if many companies adopt the standard, sustainability can scale. But here is the dilemma. Imagine two competing size-seeker standards in the same market. Scenario 1 – The race to the bottom If Size seeker 2 lowers its requirements to attract more participants, adoption increases. But this may come at the cost of credibility and sustainability impact weakens, and the whole market becomes less trustworthy. Scenario 2 – The credibility trap If Size seeker 2 keeps its higher requirements while the other lowers them, it risks pricing itself out of the market. In this case, there is less adoption, and impact remains limited. Either way, sustainability loses. This is what I call the Size Seekers’ Dilemma: Scaling sustainability standards can undermine the very credibility they depend on. So what is the way out? Some possibilities: • Baseline regulation that prevents a race to the bottom • Meta-standards or benchmarking that maintain credibility across schemes • Tiered standards (entry → advanced levels) that allow scaling without diluting ambition • Collective governance between standards instead of pure competition In other words: sustainability standards do not operate in a normal market. They require institutional coordination to scale impact without eroding trust. Curious how others see this tension between scale and credibility in sustainability certification, especially Dave Boselie, PhDJeroen Oudheusden. (yes, I think data ecosystem will help :-))

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Netherlands, De Nederlandsche Bank: DNB Analysis Explores Development Impact Fees' Role in Dutch Housing Market De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) has published a new analysis examining the potential impact of development impact fees on the Dutch housing market. The analysis addresses the challenges posed by high land prices and other obstacles that hinder new construction, contributing to the housing market's inaccessibility. The government is considering implementing fees on land value increases after upzoning, known as planbatenheffing, to alleviate these issues. DNB's analysis estimates that upzoning land from agricultural to residential use could increase its value by an average of €1.4 million per hectare, with higher values in the Randstad region. To meet the demand for new homes, over 5,500 hectares of land must be upzoned annually, potentially generating a taxable base of €7 billion to €8 billion across all municipalities. The analysis suggests that development impact fees could help fund public amenities and infrastructure, discourage speculative landholding, and shift the tax burden to less mobile capital. However, the design and rates of such fees remain a decision for national and local politicians, with expected revenue variations across municipalities. Source: https://lnkd.in/eXq-pn6n

🇳🇱 A new subsidy for carbon removal! Because CDR is MOOI (Dutch for beautiful)! The Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) is launching a new government subsidy programme to support carbon removal. It focuses on research and development of CDR pathways that extract CO₂ from air, water, or biogenic sources, and store it long-term. 💡 What you should know: 💰 Total budget: €10 million 💶 Max subsidy per project: €4 million 🪙 Minimum per participant: €25K 🗓️ Application window: March 17 – April 16, 2026 👉 Learn more: https://lnkd.in/gqDjwFUN 🎯 Why this matters: This is one of the few programmes in Europe explicitly supporting carbon removal innovation. It shows that governments are beginning to recognize the need to back the research, development, and scale-up of CDR — through policy, public financing, and coordinated support for early-stage technologies. 😃 It’s exciting and welcome news! 📣 If you’re a tech developer, research institution, or project partner exploring carbon removal in the Netherlands... don’t miss this opportunity! 🔍 If you’re in policy or public funding, this is a programme to keep an eye on. 🌷 Like Dutch tulips, carbon removal needs support to blossom.

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Dutch financial institutions are leading the conversation on biodiversity, signing pledges, joining TNFD and PBAF, and publishing ambitious statements. Yet turning those promises into real portfolio action remains slow. Our latest research with biodiversity professionals across Dutch banks, insurers, and asset managers shows that biodiversity is where climate was a decade ago: driven by visibility and peer pressure, not yet by enforceable rules. The leaders who will stand out next are those investing in the plumbing of data infrastructure, client data alignment, and regulatory mapping to move biodiversity from narratives to numbers. Because as expectations on biodiversity in the financial sector rise, credibility will belong to those who can quantify. 🔗 Read the full article: https://lnkd.in/e_ZpEdpe 🌿 This article summarises the thesis research performed by Blanca Salvat in collaboration with the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU Amsterdam) and ACE + Company, including interviews with professionals and a review of 2024 disclosures from ten Dutch financial institutions.

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Your money with Triodos Bank helps to shape the world around you. From supporting local communities to restoring nature and backing the transition to a more sustainable future, the way money is used matters. 🎥 In this video, we share a few examples of what money entrusted to Triodos helped support across our branches in 2025, through loans and investments that focused on real-world impact. As we move into 2026, the focus stays the same: using money consciously, supporting what matters and helping build a fairer, more resilient future for generations to come. #TriodosBank

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🌱 Restoring nature takes more than good intentions. At Triodos, we support initiatives that help turn nature restoration into long-term impact. Wilderway is one example. Through science-based rewilding, degraded landscapes across Europe are given the chance to recover. Curious how this works in practice? This article from Triodos Regenerative Money Centre explains how nature credits can help bring restoration projects to scale. 🔗 https://lnkd.in/eemQbGGc

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🎲 Playing a board game and gathering stories to engage the public in climate change discussions Several members of our group have been awarded Public Engagement seed funding from the University of Groningen to further develop innovative ways to engage society in our research. 🎲 Our colleagues Brian A. Wagner, Isabel Pacheco, Ellen van der Werff, and Linda Steg have received seed funding for a board game about sustainability, called “Racing to a Greener Future”. The game is designed to help understand and stimulate citizens to promote systemic change through an interactive board game. Brian and Isabel debuted a pilot version of the game during European Researcher’s Night earlier this year. In the 10-minute game, players explore their everyday behaviours, like talking to colleagues at work, motivating friends and family, or trying to set a good example, to help them reflect on how those actions are helping the environment without them even realising it. The game is also an opportunity to consider what helps to motivate us or prevent us from doing more by discussing our actions with other players while racing towards the green finish line. 🎲 Lisa Hof (a joint PhD in our group and the University of Groningen - Faculty of Spatial Sciences), together with Ina Horlings and Gwenda van der Vaart, is also among the winners of the Public Engagement seed funding of the university with the project ’Ignite: Getting young people passionate about climate change’. The researchers will get young people, who often feel disempowered when it comes to facing the impact of climate change, more actively involved in a project to combat its worst effects. “Gronings Vuur - a Toukomst project - uses a more positive and hopeful approach, gathering stories and engaging people in co-creative events, connecting the past, present and future.” Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences - University of Groningen #environmentalpsychology #climatechange #behaviorchange

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