Biobased in the NMD: expansion and development through 2026

The demand for biobased materials in construction is growing. To support the use of these materials, Stichting NMD is working with the Ministry of Housing and Spatial Planning (VRO), the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management (IenW), and Rijkswaterstaat to expand and improve the environmental data of biobased construction products in the NMD. These activities are part of the National Approach to Biobased Building (NABB).

In 2024, the first phase of the Biobased in the NMD project was launched. Due to new insights and project expansion, the project timeline has now been extended through the end of 2026. The objective is to still achieve the intended results and to formulate next steps towards 2030, when the NABB programme will be concluded.

Reimbursement for LCAs through the Filling the Gaps Project

A key component of the project is the expansion of the Filling the Gaps reimbursement scheme for biobased products. The goal is to stimulate the development of environmental declarations (category 1) for biobased construction materials. A reimbursement of €2,500 per LCA is made available, provided that the product is included in the NMD. This will enable the addition of at least 70 biobased products.

Acceleration of category 3 data and basic profiles

In addition to the focus on category 1 data, work is also being done to add at least 20 category 3 environmental declarations and approximately 30 basic processes for biobased materials. This will increase the availability of generic data, helping companies in developing their own environmental declarations.

The focus is specifically on:

data for fire safety products, timber construction, and insulation materials;
data for biocomposites used in civil engineering applications;
basic processes for fibre crops cultivated in the Netherlands.

Making the biobased content percentage visible in the NMD

Since 1 January 2024, subsidy schemes for residential sustainability grant a bonus for biobased insulation materials. These schemes require insight into the percentage of biobased mass in accordance with EN 16575:2014. As it is currently inefficient to verify this manually, Stichting NMD is exploring ways to make this percentage visible in the NMD, for example for the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) and potentially also for third parties via the viewer. Suppliers would be able to voluntarily provide this information.

Research into environmental impacts and end-of-life scenarios

The project also includes work on:

updating particulate matter emission data from biomass boilers in Dutch wood-processing facilities;
updating and expanding default end-of-life scenarios for biobased products.

The aim is to enable more realistic modelling that better reflects the characteristics of biobased materials.