The municipality of Leeuwarden, which hosted the last IB-Green project meeting in October 2025, is a very active project partner: Besides informing and supporting businesses in implementing green-blue infrastructure on their premises, Leeuwarden is also leading by example and implementing measures on public grounds in the business park Hemrik. Ewout Oppers is working on IB-Green from the municipality together with his colleague, Niek Smits.
l.t.r.: Ewout Oppers, Niek Smiets
Why do you think IB-Green is an important project, especially from the perspective of your organisation?
That becomes overwhelmingly clear once you see the heat stress map of our municipality. Apart from our historic inner city, there are two big heat islands that really stand out, and these are our business parks. IBP’s are often forgotten in when it comes to climate adaptation, even though many employees (and customers) spend many hours every week there. This is not only detrimental to our ability to deal with climate change, but is also harmful for the employees and the economic value of the IBP. So there is a lot to be gained for humans, the economy and the climate by making IBP’s more climate adaptive.
In your eyes, what is the biggest challenges for implementing more green and blue infrastructure in IBPs?
Getting the topic top of mind. Climate adaptation is often not a priority for entrepreneurs, who have a business to run and who are simultaneously already trying to join the energy transition. We can do more to highlight the environmental and economic benefits of green and blue infrastructure on IBP’s. That also means that as a municipality, you need to invest in informing and supporting businesses in contributing to more climate resilient IBP’s. That’s why our activities in IB Green are (amongst others) focused on supporting SME’s in becoming more climate adaptive.
Describe your own pilot action/activities in IB-Green in a few short sentences.
First of all: leading by example. Show local entrepreneurs on IBP’s that as a municipality, you are also willing to invest in the public space. We do that by planting trees and removing sealed surfaces on the Hemrik. Second: facilitating local SME’s as much as possible throughout the entire process of becoming more climate adaptive. We are doing that by working together with local landscapers to provide free Climate Scans, and have also invested heavily into setting up a local Green Deal with the local business association and the Rabobank, so that SME’s can get financial support to actually implement the Climate Scans as well.
Which of your own project activities are you most looking forward to, and why?
Right now, we’re in the midst of our Green Coach pilot, as 4 green coaches are out there providing entrepreneurs with free climate scans. We have been very pleased with the enthusiasm on the Hemrik to participate, and we’re so eager to see if the climate scans and the Green Deal-subsidy we developed with the local business organization and the Rabobank will also lead to actual implementation of green-blue interventions. That would be very rewarding to see, and a valuable lesson that we can share with our IB-Green partners.
Which activities/pilot action of another IB-Green project partner do you find interesting or do you think you can learn from the most?
As a municipality, we tend to learn most from our colleagues at Singen and Arnhem, who are dealing with the same issues, and are trying to come up with similar solutions. We gain a lot by exchanging on the topic of municipal green coaches, for instance. We can really learn from each other’s mistakes and successes there!
