Climate change will lead to more tropical days and warm nights in summer, and fewer cold days in winter. In the Netherlands the risk of dying increases when it is hot. The municipality of Amsterdam wants to know what this means for their residents. Therefore, RIVM investigated whether there was an association between temperature and mortality in Amsterdam between 2007 and 2019.

From Friday 15 August 2025 at the end of the day the National Heatwave Plan will no longer be active in the whole country. The heatwave plan was already no longer active in the northern provinces from Thursday 14 August.

From Thursday 14 August 2025 at 18:00 pm the National Heatwave Plan will no longer be active in the provinces Noord-Holland, Flevoland, Friesland, Groningen and Drenthe. The heatwave plan will remain active in the other provinces. The Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI) and RIVM will continue to monitor the situation.

After consulting the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI), RIVM has decided to activate the National Heatwave Plan throughout the Netherlands as of 12 August 2025 at 10:00 am. The reason for activating this plan is to let informal carers and care professionals know that a heatwave is coming.

The risk of dying on hot days has substantially attenuated since 2010 in the Netherlands. The estimated number of heat-related deaths decreased from 7,000 in the 2000–2009 period to 4,300 in the 2010–2019 period. This is the outcome of a study conducted by RIVM.

As of Wednesday, 17 August 2022, the National Heatwave Plan is no longer in operation.

After consulting the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI), RIVM has decided to activate the National Heatwave Plan in all Dutch provinces as of 10 August 2022.

As of Thursday, 21 July 2022, the National Heatwave Plan is no longer in effect. RIVM also withdraws the smog alert. 

Just as in recent days, today 19 July there is a risk of smog across the Netherlands due to high ozone concentrations.