Green growth in the Netherlands 2015 Uitgave 2015 Green growth in the Netherlands 2015 Explanation of symbols Empty cell Figure not applicable . Figure is unknown, insufficiently reliable or confidential * Provisional figure ** Revised provisional figure 2014–2015 2014 to 2015 inclusive 2014/2015 Average for 2014 to 2015 inclusive 2014/’15 Crop year, financial year, school year, etc., beginning in 2014 and ending in 2015 2012/’13–2014/’15 Crop year, financial year, etc., 2012/’13 to 2014/’15 inclusive Due to rounding, some totals may not correspond to the sum of the separate figures. Publisher Statistics Netherlands Henri Faasdreef 312, 2492 JP The Hague www.cbs.nl Prepress: Statistics Netherlands and Textcetera, The Hague Design: Edenspiekermann Information Telephone +31 88 570 70 70 Via contact form: www.cbs.nl/infoservice Where to order [email protected] ISBN 978-90-357-2065-7 © Statistics Netherlands, The Hague/Heerlen/Bonaire, 2015. Reproduction is permitted, provided Statistics Netherlands is quoted as the source. Foreword Green growth is high on the national and international agenda. The EU has the ambition to be more resource efficient by 2020 and is investing in developing a circular economy. The OECD has placed the environment at the heart of its economic policymaking through its green growth strategy. At the global level, all countries have committed themselves to the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals adopted in September 2015. Some of these goals are linked directly to green growth. The green growth strategy and the ambition of a resource efficient Europe can therefore be perceived as ways to implement these aspects of sustainable development. More statistical offices have started to measure green growth in response. Statistics Netherlands has done so since 2011, using the OECD indicators. This green growth measurement is conceptually harmonized with the Dutch sustainability monitor. The Dutch government considers green growth essential in maintaining future growth, reducing environmental impact and dependency on scarce resources. The green growth policies of the Dutch government include the Green Deal Program, which aims to closely involve the private sector in the green transition. In this edition Statistics Netherlands presents a broad quantitative overview of recent key developments in the relationship between the environment and the economy. The main conclusion is that the Dutch economy is turning ‘greener’ once again. The environ mental pressure of industries has further decreased while the economy grew. However the natural asset base is still under threat. The recent earth quakes in the northern part of the Netherlands are an example of the negative side effects of natural gas extraction. Other natural assets, particularly biodiversity, are also still under pressure. Internationally the performance of the Netherlands with respect to green growth is average. Its international ranking has dropped, which means that other countries are growing green faster than the Netherlands. Director General Dr. T.B.P.M. Tjin-A-Tsoi Heerlen/The Hague/Bonaire, December 2015 Foreword 3 Contents Foreword 3 Summary 7 Samenvatting 10 1. Introduction 13 1.1 Green growth in the Netherlands 14 1.2 The OECD measurement framework for green growth 15 1.3 Selection and scoring of the indicators 18 1.4 More information 20 2. Green growth in the Netherlands and the position of the Netherlands in an international context 21 2.1 Overview 22 2.2 Production-based greenhouse gas emissions 26 2.3 Carbon footprint 28 2.4 Emissions to water, heavy metals 30 2.5 Nutrient surpluses 31 2.6 Waste generation 33 2.7 Net domestic energy use 35 2.8 Renewable energy 37 2.9 Groundwater abstraction 39 2.10 Domestic metal consumption 41 2.11 Domestic mineral consumption 43 2.12 Domestic biomass consumption 45 2.13 Raw materials footprint 46 2.14 Waste recycling 48 2.15 Stocks of standing timber 50 2.16 Stocks of fish 52 2.17 Energy reserves 54 2.18 Farmland birds 56 2.19 Red List Indicator 58 2.20 Biodiversity footprint 59 2.21 Land conversion into built-up land 61 2.22 Urban exposure to particulates 62 2.23 Chemical quality of surface waters 64 2.24 Ecological quality of surface waters 66 2.25 Nitrate in groundwater 68 2.26 Level of concern 70 2.27 Willingness to pay 71 2.28 Environmental taxes and fees 72 2.29 Implicit tax rate for energy 74 2.30 Environmental transfers and subsidies 76 2.31 Climate change mitigation expenditure by the government 78 2.32 Environmental protection expenditures 79 2.33 Green patents 81 Contents 5 2.34 Environmental investments 83 2.35 Gross value added environmental goods and services sector (EGSS) 84 2.36 Employment in the environmental goods and services sector (EGSS) 86 2.37 Employment sustainable energy sector 87 3. Green growth in top sectors 89 3.1 Introduction 90 3.2 Method 90 3.3 Results 91 3.4 Conclusions 98 4. Dutch Urban Mining of Waste of Electrical and Electronic Equipment 99 4.1 Introduction 100 4.2 Methodology 100 4.3 Results 102 4.4 Conclusions 109 Annex – WEEE generated by collection method and waste group 110 5. Ecosystem Accounting – a case study for Limburg Province 112 5.1 Introduction 113 5.2 Ecosystem Accounting: the SEEA EEA approach 114 5.3 Ecosystem services 115 5.4 Methods 116 5.5 Results and interpretation 119 5.6 Discussion and further recommendations 128 6. Measuring energy efficiency in services and economic opportunities from energy saving activities 130 6.1 Introduction 131 6.2 Methodology 132 6.3 Results of energy efficiency indicators 135 6.4 Results of economic growth opportunities from energy saving activities 144 6.5 Conclusions 145 References 146 Abbreviations 150 Acknowledgements 152 6 Green growth in the Netherlands 2015 Inhoud PB Summary Overall, the Dutch economy has become ‘greener’ since 2000. However, this development takes place gradually and is not observed for all aspects of green growth. This becomes clear when looking at the different themes of the green growth framework shown in the figure below. The Netherlands performs average compared to other OECD and EU countries. Over the last years this position has not improved. Green growth in the Netherlands: overview Netherlands International Environmental efficiency Resource efficiency Natural asset base Environmental quality of life Green policy instruments Economic opportunities National data is scored for its development towards green growth (left). positive development neutral developments negative development International data is scored on the relative position of the absolute amounts (right). 1/3 best countries between 1/3 and 2/3 of countries worst 1/3 of countries no data available The direct environmental pressure of the Dutch economy has decreased. All environ mental efficiency indicators for emissions and waste generation overall score ‘green’. This means that the pressure decreased in absolute terms, while the economy grew (absolute decoupling). Only the carbon footprint, i.e the amount of greenhouse gas emissions that result from Dutch consumption, was stable. Despite the national progress with regard to improvement of the environmental efficiency, the Netherlands scores averagely (or low) in an international context. The international position is stable with respect to other countries in the OECD or EU; other countries also grow green, and the Netherlands is not showing slower or faster progress than other countries. Summary 7 Most of the environmental efficiency gains were realized in the so-called top sectors. According to the Dutch government, ‘top sectors’ are central in job creation and inno- vation in the Netherlands. These top sectors comprise up to 20 percent of total value added and employment in the Dutch economy. However, their share in the environmental pressure is much higher, namely between 40 and 80 percent. Top sectors produce relatively large amounts of greenhouse gas emissions, fine dust emissions, and emissions of nutrients. Analysis revealed that top sectors ‘grow greener’ at an accelerated pace compared to the rest of the economy. Regarding resource efficiency, the indicators show that the Netherlands is very resource efficient regarding the use of material resources. It has a very small domestic material use per capita compared to other countries and in addition has improved more compared to other countries in the past decade. For waste recycling, the Netherlands holds the highest recycling rate. Results presented in the thematic article on urban mining of waste of electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) show that the amount of WEEE represents approximately 400 million euros of raw materials annually. This WEEE is not collected through official channels, and it was found that at least 73 million euros is lost, due to disposal behaviour, in waste bins. Most of this wasted value is determined by gold. The overall high recycling rates, and highly efficient material use indicate that the next step for the Netherlands could be to focus on preservation of material value. Along with efficient use of material resources, efficient use of energy is also essential for a green economy. Most of the energy use is still from fossil origin, leading to significant greenhouse gas emissions. The share of renewable energy increases over time, however internationally the Netherlands still ranks among the lowest. A positive sign is that employment and value added in the sustainable energy sector increase, indicating green growth potential for the Dutch economy. The energy use itself has been increasing since 2000, however at a slower pace than the economic growth (relative decoupling). In order to measure the progress regarding the Dutch ambitions on energy saving detailed datasets and robust concepts are needed. In the thematic article on measuring energy efficiency recent research is described to develop energy efficiency indicators for the services industry on the basis of the so called client registers of the energy network companies.