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)