Scorecard summary:
Fulfilment of Rio Conference Commitment-Yellow
Current Government Position on Climate Change- Green
Per Capita CO2 Emissions -Yellow (9.16 metric tons per person in 1992)
National CO2 Emissions- Green (139 million metric tons in 1992).

OVERALL ASSESSMENT:
Very active to achieve international progress existing domestic policies and measures are not strong enough.

NATIONAL CLIMATE PROTECTION GOAL:
A reduction of 3 percent compared to (temperature- corrected) emissions in 1990 and active promotion of 1 -2 percent greenhouse gas emission reduction per year after 2000.

SPECIFIC FEATURES:
The Netherlands is a major natural gas producer. Gas therefore plays a major role in electricity supply. Combined heat and power is growing substantially. The Netherlands has an energy-intensive industry structure. The country is a distribution and refining center for north-western Europe and a processing center for petrochemicals and metals. The emissions of bunker fuels are equivalent to 25 percent of total CO2-emissions, which is the highest share in OECD countries.

NEGATIVE FEATURES:
CO2 emissions in 1995 were 7 percent higher than in 1990. This is partly as a consequence of higher economic growth and partly due to budget cuts in energy efficiency policy in 1994. Post-2000 reductions in greenhouse gas emissions are dependent on an international agreement on targets and timetables as well as on policies and measures.

POSITIVE FEATURES:
In 1995 new measures (e.g. an energy/carbon tax on small-scale energy consumption) were introduced to compensate the budget cuts of 1994. In 1996 a Parliamentary Enquete Commission unanimously supported the conclusions of the Second Assessment Report of the InterGovernmental Panel on Climate Change and agreed that the 2 percent CO2 emission reduction is necessary and achievable. Also, in 1996 an additional budget of Dfl 750 mln was made available for climate change measures.

Sources: The Netherlands Second Memorandum on Climate Change, June 1996 Report on the in depth review of the national communication of the Netherlands, July 1996 (FCCC/IDR.1/NLD)