Zero emission zones 2025

What do you need to know as an entrepreneur?

As of 2025, Dutch cities will start to introduce zero emission zones. Thus decided Dutch municipalities, parties from the transport sector and the Dutch State Secretary for infrastructure Veldhoven. They signed an executive agenda for city logistics in February 2021, in which they agreed that cities in The Netherlands, starting in 2025, will have a zero emission policy in regard to supplying. From that moment onwards, supplying in municipalities with a zero emission zone is only allowed if this takes place entirely emission free. With this measure, a considerable reduction of exhaust gases should be created. When you are active in the logistical sector, this can have enormous consequences for you. 

Emission free city logistics

Are you an entrepreneur and do you regularly enter the cities mentioned below with vans or trucks? And do you not drive emission free yet? Then, you will need to take action soon: starting January 2025, you can only be active professionally in the emission free zones if you can do so entirely free of harmful emission gasses and fine particulates. To continue with your activities, you will need to make the change into clean transport. 

Measures transition zero emission zones

To support entrepreneurs in their transition to emission free transport, a number of measures have been created. The foremost measure is making a subsidy for clean vans and trucks available. Since the 15th of March, 2021, a subsidy arrangement for emission free company cars (SEBA) has been enforced. With this arrangement you can get a compensation of up to €5.000 for purchasing or leasing a clean van or truck. You can apply for a SEBA with E-recognition at RVO.nl (in Dutch). You can read more about the condition on their website. This factsheet  (in Dutch) has an overview of the most important information in regard to SEBA. 

In addition to the SEBA subsidy, more measures are implemented for a successful transitional period between now and 2025. For example, participating municipalities are working on an overlapping network of loading poles and more fiscal benefits (in Dutch) to make the transition (financially) possible. 

What cities get a zero emission zone?

Logistical entrepreneur’s association Evofenedex, published an overview (in Dutch) of all the cities that will be implementing the zero emission zone in 2025. the following municipalities strive to have emission free city centers (and surrounding neighborhoods):

• Amersfoort
• Amsterdam
• Apeldoorn
• Assen
• Delft
• The Hague
• Deventer
• Eindhoven
• Enschede
• Gouda
• Groningen
• Haarlem
• Leiden
• Maastricht
• Nijmegen
• Rotterdam
• Tilburg
• Utrecht
• Zaanstad
• Zwolle

The following municipalities strive to implement an emission free zone or are researching this for after January 2025:

• Alphen a/d Rijn    Researching
• Arnhem               Researching
• Breda                  Researching
• Dordrecht            Yes (as of 2026)
• Dordrecht            Yes (as of  2026)
• Ede                     Yes (as of  2026)
• Hilversum            Researching
• Hoorn                  Yes (as of  2027)
• Schiedam            Researching (as of 2026)
• 's-Hertogenbosch Yes (as of 1-03-25)

Source: Evofenedex.nl

Policy in big cities

In Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht – the four largest cities in The Netherlands, detailed plans have been drafted to reduce the emission in the coming years. In the table below you can see what will happen between 2020 and 2030, and what you will need to take into consideration if you still want to be able to drive your company cars into the cities. 

Passenger cars

Although there will be no emission-free zones for passenger cars for the time being, diesel cars must be cleaner from 2025. Do you drive (privately) in a diesel car? From 2025 you can only enter the zones if your car has an emission class of 5 or higher. If you drive an older petrol car, you may also suffer (indirect) consequences from the new policy. Whether and how you will have to deal with stricter rules for your car differs per municipality. In Amsterdam, for example, polluting petrol cars are being phased out by adjusting the parking policy. Higher environmental requirements are also imposed when applying for a new parking permit. Keep an eye on the website of your municipality to stay informed of the possible consequences for your car. On milieuzones.nl  you can do a check based on your license plate to see whether or not you have access to environmental zones.

Would you like to know more?

Extensive information and the latest news in regard to the implementation of zero emission zones for entrepreneurs, can be found on Evofenedex’s website (in Dutch). For the application and questions about the subsidies you can find more information on RVO.nl (in Dutch). For specific measures in the areas that you work in, you can check the website of the municipalities (in Dutch) in question.

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