Making the whole of the Netherlands natural gas-free is a huge challenge. Over eight million homes and buildings have to be disconnected from gas within a period of thirty years. To this end, the government set up the inter-governmental Natural Gas-Free Districts Programme, a collaboration between the Dutch Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations, Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate, the Association of Provinces of the Netherlands (IPO), the Union of Water Boards and the Association of Dutch Municipalities (VNG). They optimally support municipalities and the parties involved in becoming natural-gas free. The aim of the programme is to learn how the district-based approach can be designed and scaled up, and the best way in which municipalities can make the various districts natural gas-free. For this purpose large scale test sites are used, 46 of which are already underway, as well as a corresponding Knowledge and Learning programme for all Dutch municipalities. Bottlenecks are flagged, placed on the agenda and solved where possible, based on practical experience and specific test sites. The Knowledge and Learning programme and the test sites provide the driving force for municipalities and the parties involved to work on the district-based approach on an ever larger scale.

The municipalities that participate in the Natural Gas-Free Districts Programme can decide how they disconnect their district from natural gas. At the test sites the participating municipalities make their homes and other buildings natural gas-free or prepare them so they can be in the near future.