Collaboration with various partners
According to Marleen Verbruggen, director of economic statistics at CBS, the Green Deal dashboard, which was launched by the statistics office in December 2023 is now quite extensive and well-filled. ‘The page provides a good overview of the most relevant information we have at CBS on the aforementioned themes and also contains information from other organizations. We collaborate with various partners for this. Think of KNMI, DNB, PBL, RIVM, and various ministries. They are open to sharing data with CBS so that CBS can present a broader coherent picture. CBS aims to bring together the most relevant information in the dashboard.’
Green growth
The European Green Deal is a series of policy initiatives from the European Commission aiming to make Europe climate-neutral by 2050. By 2030 for example, CO2 emissions must be reduced by 55 percent compared to 1990. ‘Those were the main goals of the previous European Commission. The new EU Commission still places climate change high on the agenda, but the emphasis has shifted. There is now more focus on Europes competitiveness, which must be achieved through green growth. Economic growth and development are central, but the pressure on the environment and the use of natural resources must be minimized,’ says Verbruggen.
CSRD guidelines
Although the new EU Commission has placed different emphases, the objectives set by the previous EU Commission remain in force. This also applies to the regulations concerning the statistics that CBS is required to produce regarding climate, nature, energy transition, circularity, etc. According to Verbruggen, there is a great need for this information. ‘In January of this year, I attended a symposium in Brussels organized by the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the European statistical office Eurostat. The great need for information regarding the financing of the energy transition by the business community and the role that the CSRD guidelines (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, ed.) can play were discussed. These guidelines require the largest companies to report on a wide range of indicators in the field of sustainability and environmental impact. This could also be an interesting source for statistics.’
Sustainability statistics financial sector
Patty Duijm is head of statistics on securities, sustainability, and payment transactions at DNB. DNB also produces statistics on sustainability. ‘These are the sustainability statistics. They show the effects of climate change on the financial sector and the financing of the transition to a more sustainable economy. Our sustainability dashboards provide insight into the extent to which the financial sector finances the emissions of greenhouse gases (CO2) through their investments in companies. This also allows us to determine the extent to which a financial institution is exposed to a transition risk. This is the risk that CO2-intensive companies may be devalued faster than expected due to a transition to a more sustainable economy.’ Duijm gives an example. ‘Suppose a bank finances many garage owners who focus solely on fossil fuel cars. Policy measures or market movements that stimulate demand for electric cars can then pose a risk to the profit model of this company and thus a financial risk for the bank.’
Changing climate
With the dashboard, DNB also maps physical risks. Duijm again mentions the example of the bank and a garage owner. ‘Suppose the garage owner is located next to a river. Due to climate change, the river could overflow and cause the garage to flood. The loan that the bank provided to the garage owner will likely not be repaid if the garage and its contents are severely damaged by the flood.’ This example makes it clear that it is relevant for financial institutions to know to what extent the companies they have lent money to are vulnerable to a changing climate.
Improving quality
The sustainability indicators have been developed by DNB together with the European Central Bank and other national central banks in the euro area. DNB plays an active role within Europe. ‘In 2023 we published sustainability statistics for the first time. The quality of the CO2 and physical risk indicators is not yet entirely comparable to our regular statistics. However, we are working hard to improve the quality in the coming years. This is still a complex task, as we rely on various and partly external data sources for the production of this statistic. It is difficult to obtain the correct, timely, and complete data. For example, data on CO2 emissions from companies is available with considerable delay. Moreover, those different datasets need to be linked together, which is methodologically quite complicated.’ Duijm indicates that both CBS and DNBs figures in the area of sustainability are important. ‘This is also reflected in the Green Deal dashboard of CBS. The figures from CBS and DNB are made from different perspectives but complement each other very nicely.’