PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency
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About PBL

The Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL) is the Dutch national institute for research on the environment, nature, spatial planning, and environmental policy in the Netherlands and internationally. Our analyses and assessments provide strategic knowledge for policymakers, politicians, civil society organisations, and the wider public. Our studies offer evidence-based insights not only on current issues but also those of the near and distant future. We conduct solicited and unsolicited research that is both independent and scientifically sound. 

Independent

PBL is an autonomous research institute in the fields of the environment, nature and spatial planning. It is part of the Dutch Government organisation; more specifically, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management.

Other government departments may also ask PBL to conduct research into issues related to the environment, nature and spatial planning – in particular the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy, the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations, the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The independence of PBL and its partner agencies CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis and the Netherlands Institute for Social Research (SCP) is safeguarded in the Protocol for the Policy Assessment Agencies (Aanwijzingen voor de Planbureaus), Staatscourant (government gazette) 3200, 21 February 2012.

Core tasks

The core tasks of PBL are:

  1. to investigate and document current environmental, ecological and spatial quality and to evaluate policy;
  2. to explore future social trends that influence environmental, ecological and spatial quality and to evaluate possible policy options;
  3. to identify social issues of importance to environmental, ecological and spatial quality and raise them for discussion;
  4. to identify possible strategic options for achieving government objectives in the fields of the environment, nature and spatial planning.

History

PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency was established in 2008 when the Netherlands Institute for Spatial Research (RPB) merged with the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (MNP).