The court has nullified Schiphol Airport’s nature permit on Wednesday. The airport needs a new permit, otherwise, Schiphol is operating illegally.
The lawsuit regarding Schiphol’s nature permit was filed by several nature and environmental organizations. They believed that the permit was wrongly issued in 2023. Schiphol received the permit that year after operating for years without one – against the rules.
The court finds that the permit was not sufficiently prepared and not well enough substantiated. Nitrogen is central to this. The nitrogen emissions from aircraft end up on ten protected nature areas. To compensate for this, Schiphol bought out nine farmers, among other things.
MOB objected to this. It believes that less nitrogen should first end up on that protected nature. Only then may Schiphol use the ‘nitrogen space’ that has been freed up by the buyout of farmers.
The court finds that when granting the permit, the Ministry of Agriculture did not properly consider whether nature needs that nitrogen space and therefore rejects the permit.