Nitrogen – relevant rulings, reports and studies

Below is an overview of the most relevant rulings, reports and studies regarding nitrogen.

Emission factors

List of updated emission factors for ammonia, odour and fine particulate matter – Appendix Guidelines Book for Agricultural Animals – version 2023

Evaluation of the emission factors for ammonia, odour and fine particulate matter as included in the EIA Guidelines Book for Agricultural Animals 2018 – ILVO – 2018 – appendix 5 comparison Flanders and the Netherlands

Low-emission housing systems

“Evaluation of 5 years of nitrogen case law” – V. Wösten – Journal of Agricultural Law (NL) 

Nine rulings on nature permits for livestock farming in Overijssel – AEA P-6.4 and V-4.6 – 2023

Estimation of nitrogen losses from barns based on the nitrogen-phosphate ratio in removed manure – WUR – 2023

Report on emissions from aviary housing for laying hens – WUR – 2022

Improvement of the effectiveness of low-emission housing systems in practicehttps://open.overheid.nl/documenten/34c3b3cf-8a33-40fd-b212-0ae61878daaa/file

Ruling dated 8 April 2022 from the Court of East Brabant (ECLI:NL:RBOBR:2022:1323)

StAB advice on the ruling dated 8 April 2022 from the Court of East Brabant

Nitrogen loss from stored manure – Nitrogen loss calculated from the difference in ratio between nitrogen and phosphate at excretion and at manure removal – Central Bureau of Statistics – 2019

Measuring more, calculating more robustly – Final report of the Advisory Committee on Measuring and Calculating Nitrogen – Hordijk Committee – 2020

Nitrogen losses from manure in stables and manure storage – Committee of Experts on the Manure Act (CDM) – 2020

Low-emission floors do not convince in practice – STAF – 2020

Parliamentary question Flemish Parliament dated 13 February 2020 – Ammonia-reduced stables – Control

Air scrubbers

Research into improvement points for combined air scrubbers in practice – WUR – 2021

Parliamentary question Flemish Parliament dated 17 September 2020 – Livestock farms – Control of animal numbers and air scrubbers

Controls on biological scrubbers remain necessary – VLM – 2019

Measurement team – Final report – Measurement campaign for air scrubbers and bio-beds – ILVO – 2018

Evaluation of odour removal by air scrubber systems in stables: Part 2: Sample efficiency of air scrubbers in practice – WUR – 2018

Evaluation of the emission factors for ammonia, odour and fine particulate matter as included in the EIA Guidelines Book for Agricultural Animals 2018 – ILVO – 2018

Evaluation of odour removal by air scrubber systems in stables Part 2: Sample efficiency of air scrubbers in practice – WUR – 2018

Emissions of nitrogen compounds from air scrubbers with biological washing step – WUR – 2018

Poultry stables

Measurement campaign for air emissions at AEA stable system P-6.4 for broilers – Final report – ILVO – 2021

Dairy stables

Monitoring of methane, ammonia, and nitrous oxide emissions from dairy stables Practical measurements in the period October 2018 – February 2020 – WUR – 2021

Grazing and fertilising

Judgment dated 11 March 2021 from the Court of North Netherlands (ECLI:NL:RBNNE:2021:810)

Judgment dated 29 May 2019 from the Council of State (ECLI:NL:RVS:2019:1604) – permit requirement for grazing and fertilising

Ruling dated 7 November 2018 from the European Court of Justice (C‑293/17 and C‑294/17) – permit requirement for grazing and fertilising (para. 59 et seq.)

PASsive grazing – WUR – 2016

Feeding measures

Five questions about less protein in animal feed – WUR – 2020

Farmers unhappy with mandatory low-protein diet for livestock: ‘A proportion of calves will be stillborn’ – Een – 2020

Parliamentary letter to stop feeding measure in the Netherlands – 2020

Jan Dijkstra in the media about less protein in animal feed – WUR – 2020

Nitrogen deposition

Advice on the revision of the critical deposition values for nitrogen for the Flemish habitat types – INBO report – 29 August 2024

Trends and geographic variation in adverse impacts of nitrogen use in Europe on human health, climate, and ecosystems: A review – Earth Science Reviews – 2024

A novel method to estimate the response of habitat types to nitrogen deposition – Environmental Pollution – 2024 – See also news report WUR

New critical deposition values and update of deposition figures (Netherlands) – House of Representatives – August 2023 (adjustment of CDVs in the Netherlands)

Review and revision of empirical critical loads of nitrogen for Europe – Federal Environment Agency – October 2022 (adjustment of CDVs)

Study confirms ecosystems more sensitive to nitrogen pollution than previously assumed – UNECE – October 2022 (adjustment of CDVs)

Relationships between the amount of nitrogen deposition and the quality of habitat types – WUR – 2021 (summary)

Effects of nitrogen deposition now and in 2030: an analysis – B-Ware commissioned by Greenpeace – 2021

38 area analyses Programmatic Approach Nitrogen (PAS) – INBO – 2018

Atmospheric nitrogen deposition and Natura 2000 conservation objectives in Flanders – INBO – 2015

Effects of increased nitrogen deposition from 2 new coal power plants on dune areas appropriately assessed – B-Ware – 2014

Nitrogen pollution stomps on biodiversity – Nature – 2008

Replacements of small-ranged species by large-ranged species scale up to diversity loss in Europe’s temperate forest biome – Nature – 2020

Negative effects of nitrogen deposition on Swiss butterflies – Society for Conservation Biology – 2021

Manure digestion installations

Best Available Techniques (BAT) for (manure) co-digestion installations – VITO – 2012

Aerius Calculator

Judgment dated 20 January 2021 from the Council of State (ECLI:NL:RVS:2021:105)

Vrecognition of distance limit for deposition calculations for projects – RIVM – 2021 (“There appear to be no scientific arguments leading to a single maximum distance limit”)

Health

Impacts of nitrogen emissions on ecosystems and human health: A mini review – Wim DE VRIES – 2021

Abating ammonia is more cost-effective than nitrogen oxides for mitigating PM2.5 air pollution – Science – 2021

Do not discuss nitrogen but health – Brabants Citizen Platform – 2022