According to the program: 'The Netherlands Circular in 2050 ' the government would like to do something about the enormous amount of waste released from our consumer economy. This should therefore lead to the reduction of CO2 emissions, the reduction of the human footprint and the stimulation of innovation. These goals of the government require good agreements and incentives that also provide the necessary legal context.
In 2017, several civil society organizations, including Bouwend Nederland, concluded the Raw Materials Agreement. In doing so, they endorsed the government's goals and committed to achieving them. From the Raw Materials Agreement, five transition agendas have been defined. For the construction sector, the "Circular Construction Economy Transition Agenda" is of great importance. The drafters of this agenda (the transition team) are representatives of government, market parties and science.
The transition team defined three periods (2018-2021, 2021-2030 and 2030-2050) to ultimately achieve the much desired circular building economy by 2050. Although the first period was intended as an exploration, concrete measures are planned for that period. For example, it has already been decided that the government will start circular procurement from 2023 and a decision will be made in 2020 on the cases in which a so-called materials passport should be provided.
Although the goal of achieving a circular construction economy is wholeheartedly endorsed, the road to it will not be an easy one. An investment will be required from everyone. Initially, the ball will be in the market players' court. After all, the entire construction column (from design to execution) will have to think about building without residual waste, reuse of materials and flexibility of buildings. The realization will have to grow among clients that associated investments will ultimately generate higher returns. Financing institutions, in turn, will have to provide new forms of mortgages and liens to make a circular solution financeable.
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Legal frameworks
A legal question that immediately comes into play is whether ownership of land and buildings will be necessary in the future. Letting go of the ownership question might encourage circular building. Lawyers will initially have a facilitating role in the development of the circular economy. After all, innovations will have to be conceived from within technology. Nevertheless, it is good to involve lawyers at an early stage. This is to place innovations within existing legal frameworks or, if necessary, to develop new legal frameworks. Existing frameworks and standard contracts do not necessarily meet the future situation. Consider, for example, the standard tendering and contracting models that do not stimulate the implementation of circular innovations, the legal constructions that assume full ownership of premises and land, and expiring (maintenance) contracts that assume a limited life span of buildings. A good example is the recently presented "Handreiking Losmaakbaarheid". This document contains practical tools to ensure the separability of materials in tenders and procurement processes. This is a good step toward the government's goal of circular procurement by 2023.
The government must also play its part in the legal field. In my opinion, a proactive role of the government is necessary because the development of the circular economy will undoubtedly involve innovations that do not (yet) fit within existing laws and regulations. By being involved as a cooperation partner at an early stage, it may be possible to open up existing laws and regulations to technical innovations or, if necessary, to develop new laws and regulations that will enable the innovations and not actually delay them. After all, at this point the well-known danger lurks that the market is already "further along" than the legislator. It would be good if the government invested in resources to fulfill this proactive role.
In short: to have a circular economy by 2050, there is work to be done for everyone - the market, banks, government and lawyers alike!
