The MilieuPrestatie Gebouwen (MPG) is a legally required figure in the Netherlands that expresses how large the environmental impact of all the materials and services in a building is over its whole service life. The lower the result, the smaller the impact. It is effectively the Dutch equivalent of an embodied-impact assessment.
The MPG looks at materials — not at energy use in operation. That is covered separately by the BENG requirements. The two complement each other: BENG concerns the energy the building consumes, the MPG the impact embodied in the building.
How it is calculated
The calculation follows the Bepalingsmethode Milieuprestatie Bouwwerken. For every product used, the environmental impact is taken from the Nationale Milieudatabase (NMD) and counted across the entire life cycle: raw material extraction, manufacture, transport, construction, maintenance and replacement, and finally demolition and processing.
The result is expressed as a shadow price in euros per square metre of gross floor area per year: the notional cost of offsetting the environmental damage caused. Since the revised determination method of 1 July 2026, 19 environmental impact categories are included, where previously there were 11.
Only a validated calculation tool may be used; a home-made spreadsheet is not accepted.
Who it applies to and what the limit is
The MPG calculation forms part of the permit application for new construction. Before 1 July 2026 the requirement applied to new dwellings and to office buildings over 100 m², with limit values of 0.8 and 1.0 respectively.
From 1 July 2026 the rules in the Besluit bouwwerken leefomgeving were revised:
- Dwellings: limit value 1.6. This is a recalculation onto the new determination method, not a tightening of the policy level
- Offices: limit value 1.55, a tightening of roughly 15 per cent
- The scope was widened to more building uses, including schools, shops, healthcare buildings and industrial halls, each with its own limit value
Because both the limit values and the method are revised regularly, always check the current requirement with RVO or the Nationale Milieudatabase before submitting an application.
How to lower an MPG score
- Use less material: a smarter structural design often saves more than the choice of product
- Use biobased and renewable materials, such as timber frame construction, wood fibre insulation or flax
- Choose long-life materials, so replacement cycles fall away
- Use reused or secondary material
- Design for disassembly, so components remain usable at the end
- Choose products with a product-specific card in the NMD; these normally score better than generic category data
Related terms
- BENG
- Life cycle assessment
- Circular construction
- Biobased materials
- Timber frame construction
- Gross floor area
Want to learn more about construction terms? Visit our knowledge base at fredsdiyplans.com.