The Climate, Land, Energy, Water and Food Nexus Challenge in a Land Scarce Country: Innovations in the Netherlands

The Netherlands has the ambitious target of transitioning to a low-carbon economy by 2050. One factor that may constrain this progress, however, is the large spatial requirements of renewable energy technologies, and resulting competition for land through interlinkages between the Climate (C), Land (L), Energy (E), Water (W) and Food (F) domains—the CLEWF nexus. This study aims at identifying innovations that can improve the performance of the nexus by addressing the land scarcity constraint while supporting the low-carbon economy transition. A framework for the identification of potential innovations applicable in the nexus context was developed and applied. It is derived from a Driver-Pressure-State-Impact-Response (DPSIR) analysis of land scarcity in the Dutch nexus and a stock-taking benchmarking analysis of European countries. An inventory of innovations was prepared based on several classifications of innovations, collecting examples from the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Latvia and Sweden. Three innovations were identified as particularly promising: district heating, Energy Service Companies and peak shaving through water pumping. Furthermore, the DPSIR framework was also used to identify overarching societal elements common to countries that successfully implemented sustainable innovations. These were found to relate to long-term political commitments, geopolitical and economic drivers, and pioneering approaches building from and towards national strengths.