Report · 16 June 2026 · Rijkskwekerij, Baarn
One day. More than 200 policymakers, entrepreneurs, scientists and financiers. One question: how do we scale natural carbon sequestration in a way that works for climate, nature and society?
This is what the day produced.
The opening
The day opened with a message from The Hague. Jaimi van Essen, Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Nature, addressed the summit in a video message and set the tone at once: nature is not a cost, it is climate infrastructure.
“The Ministry of Agriculture is proud to be one of the founders of the national approach to biobased construction. With carbon certificates we show that we can store more carbon, reliably.”
The story of the day
In his opening words, Climate Cleanup director Sven Jense turned the frame around. Carbon is measurable, and that makes it financeable. But it is a proxy. What really matters is life: the same hectare that stores carbon also holds water, restores the soil, cuts nitrogen and gives the region work. One movement, nearly every goal at once. The day was dedicated to Marjan Minnesma, in her spirit: just do it, and keep going.
“Carbon is life. We are life. Put life at the centre and it starts to grow again.”
And it is not a dream: the alternative has already begun. Oncra, a legal entity of its own since January, is the only platform in the world that certifies natural, living carbon sequestration exclusively, and does so for small regenerative entrepreneurs too, so a food forest takes part as fully as anyone.
Figures from the open Oncra registry as presented at the opening, June 2026. The current figures are on registry.oncra.org.
The day in pictures
A day of meeting: in the greenhouse, under the trees and along the lanes of the old national tree nursery.
The harvest
Three keynotes told one story together: science says it must happen (Tim van Hattum), economics shows how it fits (Irene van Staveren), and transition studies show it is already happening (Derk Loorbach). From them, and from the three tracks, come six conclusions.
Natural climate solutions can deliver a third of cost-effective mitigation worldwide. Closing that mismatch is exactly what this day was for.
Keynote Tim van Hattum (WUR)
Until we get there, it is crisis. Crises are the openings; momentum comes by itself but cannot be predicted. “So it is now.”
Keynote Derk Loorbach (DRIFT)
Amid all the market criticism, the underlying practice stands firm. The regime pushes back (“capture and backlash”), so we keep working transitionally: normative, collective, creative, reflexive.
Keynote Derk Loorbach (DRIFT)
Solar and batteries are the fastest, most efficient lever. Sequestration finances the transition, with strict certification (permanence, additionality), not as trade in emission rights.
Keynote Irene van Staveren (Erasmus) and the market track
In the Netherlands alone: natural carbon sequestration ~€31 bn a year, biodiversity €40 bn, water quality €17 bn, nitrogen reduction €15 bn, avoided climate damage €7 bn, health €5 bn. By 2050 the value to society rises to €500 bn.
Keynote Tim van Hattum (WUR) · New Economy
584,521 tonnes of CO₂ quantified, €1.1M to farmers and builders, 140+ removers. The infrastructure to measure and certify natural carbon sequestration in the Netherlands is in place, and growing.
Oncra registry, June 2026
“Whoever keeps seeing nature as a cost misses that it is becoming a new economic infrastructure. The Netherlands can lead the world here.”
Three keynotes, one story
Wageningen University & Research
“From code red to code green”
The scientific ground: nature is our most important climate ally. From “champion of engineering” to “champion of nature”: green where we can, grey where we must. NL2120 as a hopeful, integrated picture of the future.
View the slides (PDF, in Dutch)Erasmus University Rotterdam / ISS
“From extraction to regeneration”
The economics underneath. Reduction remains the most effective lever; carbon sequestration is a strong second best: as a reward for the common good, certified under strict conditions, not as tradable offsetting.
View the slides (PDF, in Dutch)DRIFT, Erasmus University Rotterdam
“On to the next crisis”
The movement has already begun. We are leaving the fossil system, whether we like it or not; removers are the frontrunners of the new system. Beware of regime capture, and act transitionally: “keep stumbling forward.”
View the slides (PDF, in Dutch)The programme
Arrival and coffee
Musical opening and welcome
Loes Lune · chair Josine Bakkes
Opening: “It is about life”
Sven Jense, Climate Cleanup
Keynote: From code red to code green
Tim van Hattum, WUR
Break-out sessions, round 1
Lunch and networking
Keynote: From extraction to regeneration
Irene van Staveren, Erasmus / ISS
Break-out sessions, round 2, and the live Ecosofie podcast (Marnix Kluiters with Sven Jense)
Plenary closing and keynote: On to the next crisis
Derk Loorbach, DRIFT
Drinks at the Carbon Market, with dozens of initiatives
Walking dinner
The break-out sessions
In two rounds, participants worked along three tracks: policy, market and finance, and biobased construction. Below, the core of each track, with all slides and materials to read on (in Dutch).
PolicyInterprovincial Carbon Coalition (IPKC) · moderator Zoë Red
Policy advisers from provinces, municipalities and the ministry took stock of what is already under way, where the bottlenecks are and who takes which role. The IPKC's course: “natural where possible, technical where necessary, and always together with emission reduction”, with the Oxford Principles as the safeguard against greenwashing. The province emerges as the logical connector and director between national ambition and regional delivery.
Marketmoderator Gijs Tolmeijer (Climate Cleanup and Oncra)
In the morning from the project owner's side (“how do you value sequestration?”), in the afternoon from the buyer's (“why buy certificates?”). Two fishbowls with, among others, BambooLogic, Regreener, Scature, Nationaal Groenfonds, Microsoft, Rabo Carbon Bank and Mobility Invest Group.
Constructionmoderator Sacha Brons (Climate Cleanup and Building Balance)
Construction is both the problem and the pump: 37% of Dutch emissions come from construction and real estate, 11% from building materials. But biobased construction can turn that around and store carbon in the building stock (“a land-to-building pump”). With, among others, Jurriaan van Stigt (LEVS architecten) and the GREX/VEX session by Stratego Advies, Stadkwadraat and Alba Concepts.
PDFSlides, construction session 1PDFCarbon in GREX and VEXPDFHousing concepts 2026
Recorded live at the summit
During the second round, Marnix Kluiters recorded an episode of the Ecosofie podcast live with Sven Jense: start not from the problem but from a goal, double life. With questions from the audience on decentralisation, inner revolution and whether silence can save us from climate change.
Listen to the episode (in Dutch)Voices from the opening
Voices from science, farming, nature, finance and politics sent a message to the opening of the summit. In Dutch.
Climate positive
Climate Cleanup made the summit climate positive. The day emitted about 2.4 tonnes of CO₂; we had 5 tonnes cleaned up, more than double, by five regenerative removers in Land, Ocean, Rock and Construction. Every tonne can be checked in the open Oncra registry.
What we build together
The National Summit is the next step in a long line of gatherings through which we connect the regenerative movement in the Netherlands and beyond.
2020
1,500 people taking responsibility together for cleaning up 1,500 gigatonnes of CO₂, launched with a talk show hosted by Harm Edens.
Read about the launch2023
Four days on ocean, rock weathering, land and biobased construction: a radically positive plan to turn climate, nitrogen and biodiversity around at once.
See the summit2025
180 participants, urgency and optimism: not only ambitions, but what is already possible in practice. The direct forerunner of this National Summit.
Read the report2025
“How to fall in love with the future”: the yearly lecture on imagination and the regenerative future.
Watch the lectureTake part
The summit was a beginning. The real work happens after it: in every hectare, every building and every policy choice. Three ways to keep building:
Have your natural carbon sequestration measured and certified, and make your story verifiable. Small projects take part as fully as large ones.
Go to the Oncra registryClean up your residual emissions with verifiable sequestration, and help the removers with finance up front. Directly through the registry or through a broker.
Clean up your emissionsThis was the first National Summit. We are building on towards a national platform for natural carbon sequestration. Stay informed and join us.
Join Climate CleanupQuestions, an idea or a collaboration? Email us at top@climatecleanup.org. Thank you to everyone who was there: policymakers, entrepreneurs, scientists and financiers. Together we put nature on the Dutch balance sheet.
Climate Cleanup organised the summit with Oncra and six provinces: Gelderland, Utrecht, Noord-Holland, Zuid-Holland, Noord-Brabant and Drenthe. Made possible by forward-looking partners working together on climate solutions.
