From now on, it will be possible to monitor how climate, nature, and the environment are doing in the Netherlands even better. The former Green Deal Dashboard, now called the Sustainability Dashboard, was expanded at the end of August this year. Policymakers, researchers, journalists, and interested citizens will see graphs on more themes, more detailed information, and sometimes more current data. The data is partly sourced from external parties, such as De Nederlandsche Bank and the KNMI. Particulate matter emissions. The amount of investments from pension funds in a green economy. The response of the Dutch to the question of whether the climate has changed due to human activity or whether it is a natural change. What do these topics have in common? All three have a place in the Sustainability Dashboard, along with many other subjects.
New themes
‘In December
2023 CBS launched the Green Deal Dashboard,’ says
Mireille Folkerts, environmental researcher at the statistics office. ‘It focused on two themes:
climate and weather,
energy and greenhouse gases. In the past year and a half, we have added other themes that are also relevant for monitoring the state of climate, nature, and the environment. These include: circular economy, nature and biodiversity, sustainability and economy, and since the end of August, environment and perception and behavior have been added. We have also changed the name of the dashboard to Sustainability Dashboard.’
Sustainability Dashboard
Folkerts, coordinator of the dashboard, explains why a different - more timeless - name was chosen. ‘In
2019 the then European Commission presented the
Green Deal: a series of policy initiatives to make Europe climate-neutral by
2050. The member states then began to strengthen the monitoring of progress in this area. Thus, CBS started producing statistics as part of the
CBS-multi-year policy plan Green Deal. But since the end of
2024 the term of the then European Commission that launched the Green Deal has ended. Therefore, we decided to change the name as well, opting for Sustainability Dashboard.’
Finding information
The goal remains the same. CBS aims to provide an overview of the problems in the areas of climate, nature, and the environment on one hand, and on the other hand, to visualize the proposed solutions and their effects. Users can find information in three ways. Folkerts: ‘First, the information is grouped into the mentioned themes, such as climate and weather. You can also look at subtopics: for example, an activity that burdens the environment. Or how problems are being addressed to reduce the impact on society. Think of the use of a gas boiler to heat a home, which releases greenhouse gases. In this context, you can think of another subtopic: the use of heat pumps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Finally, there is information at the sector level. For example, what is the
CO2–emission from traffic and transport?’
Reliable external parties
The Sustainability Dashboard is dynamic. Folkerts and her colleagues regularly discuss whether graphs are still relevant and whether new graphs are desired, along with new data. The dashboard is based on data collected by CBS itself and data from sources of other reliable external parties, such as
De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB). Folkerts: ‘We also keep track of waste statistics, which are useful for the circular economy theme. We also have many statistics on energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.’
Investments by financial institutions
Justin Dijk is a senior economist at DNB and team leader of sustainability statistics. His team is responsible for the
DNB figures that CBS processes in the Sustainability Dashboard. He says: ‘The
CBS figures are about the real economy. Specifically: what is the CO
2–emission of the industry? The perspective that the statistical task of DNB adds to this is that we look at sustainability from the financial sector. How do banks, insurers, and pension funds invest in green financing for companies? And what does that mean for CO
2–emissions? What are the consequences for insurers and insurance policies if climate risks such as flooding become more frequent? How does the financial sector contribute to the energy transition? CBS and DNB complement each other. CBS specifically looks at the Netherlands while DNB has a global perspective, as the financial sector invests worldwide.’
Flooding
The DNB statistics on sustainability are based on international standards drawn up in collaboration with the European Central Bank and other central banks in the euro area. For example, DNB publishes the Climate Risks Dashboard for the financial sector. This highlights the physical risks that financial institutions are exposed to through their investments in
non-financial companies. ‘Floods or storms, for example,’ says Dijk: ‘Based on their location, we have mapped out how likely it is that companies will be affected and thus what the investment risk is for the financial institution.’
Recognizing trends in sustainability
The most important and eye-catching data from the
DNB statistics find their way to the CBS Sustainability Dashboard. Dijk talks about the improvements that DNB will implement at the end of this year together with European colleagues. These improvements are made possible by refined methodology. ‘In the new statistics, we can better separate investments from the financial sector that have led to increased CO
2–emissions from companies and investments that have contributed to greening. We call this
capital allocation: how does an institution deploy its money? We hope to recognize trends in sustainability even better this way.’
More current data
According to Dijk, this renewal is an important addition. ‘Unlike governments, financial institutions are not directly responsible for climate, nature, and environmental policy. But they do influence CO
2–emissions in the real economy through their investments.’ Another improvement is that CBS will soon receive more current data from DNB. Dijk: ‘It concerns the figures on CO2 emissions. In our statistics for
2025 the data for 2024 will soon be included. Previously, we could not include data from the past year, but due to improvements in the
estimation methods this is now possible.’
Treasure chest
The Sustainability Dashboard contains a treasure trove of Dutch figures and also source references on this theme. Folkerts: ‘We bundle data from CBS and the most relevant data from other sources. And if the user wants to know more about an external source, for example from DNB, the KNMI, or the
Compendium for the Living Environment? Then you can click through to that source via the dashboard.’
