PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency is the national and autonomous research institute for strategic policy analysis in the fields of the environment, nature and spatial planning. It is part of the Dutch Government organisation; more specifically, the Ministry of Infrastructure, Public Works and Water Management.                                                                                                                                                   The core tasks of PBL are:
- to investigate and document the current environmental, ecological and spatial quality and to evaluate policy;
- to explore future social trends that influence environmental, ecological and spatial quality and to evaluate possible policy options;
- to identify social issues of importance to environmental, ecological and spatial quality and raise them for discussion;
- to identify possible strategic options for achieving government objectives in the fields of the environment, nature and spatial planning.