Boekel Ecovillage awarded Most Sustainable Organisation in the Netherlands

We’re thrilled to hear that Ecodorp Boekel, the newest full member of GEN Europe, was recently recognised as “The Most Sustainable Organisation in the Netherlands” – a truly well deserved title.

According to Boekel,

On July 1st 2021, the jury chose Boekel Ecovillage as the most sustainable organisation in the Netherlands, because this project combines an enormously wide range of aspects of sustainability: nature-inclusive, climate-adaptive, climate-positive, circular, biodiversity and social sustainability. The majority of the 36 social housing units in the strikingly circular project were built using natural materials and the rest were produced from waste materials. In addition, the professional way in which this citizens’ initiative was designed sets an example for others.

The jury, in the person of Robert Koolen, was very enthusiastic about the professional and integral way in which Boekel Ecovillage is organized. Koolen: “Not only in the formation of ideas and implementation, but also in the cooperation. It concerns innovative ideas that can be repeated in practice. And partly because of the self-sufficiency they are also affordable. Not only the whole, but also parts of it can inspire imitation. The direct link to the Sustainable Development Goals shows how you can translate abstract objectives of this kind into concrete actions.

Read the full story here.

Since joining GEN Europe Boekel have been active in our advocacy working group, as well as our sister organisation ECOLISE, and have been working hard to share their innovations in practice and policy with the wider world, such as their innovative use of the Dutch Crisis and Recovery Act. We’re proud to have them as a member and look forward to sharing more news from Boekel and the many other ecovillages across Europe and the world that are modelling a new culture and contributing concrete solutions for sustainability and regeneration in all their dimensions – not only ecological, but also social, economic and cultural.