PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency

PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency is the Dutch national institute for policy analysis on the environment, nature and spatial planning. It is autonomous within the government, under the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management, and was formed in 2008 from two earlier planning agencies.

PBL's best-known product in the energy transition is the annual Climate and Energy Outlook (KEV), drawn up with TNO, Statistics Netherlands and RIVM. The outlook has a formal role under the Dutch Climate Act: every year it shows where the country stands against its climate targets, and what current and planned policies are likely to achieve. The 2026 edition appeared in September.

For NEON, PBL was the partner that connects research to the national policy table. Its interest was practical: mobility as a service as one possible route to a sustainable mobility system, and insights from the work packages on the human factor and on societal values, because a transition is not only a technological matter but needs all parties involved. PBL wanted to use those insights in its advice to the ministries.

PBL also took part in NEON's integral model, the work package that combines the technical and social research into quantified scenarios for the Netherlands, and PBL experts presented their work to the NEON community.