Only a few Dutch businesses are completely climate-neutral

The Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) has calculated that a relatively small number of companies in the Netherlands are now completely climate-neutral. This means that the Netherlands still has a long way to go if it wants to meet the target of being completely climate-neutral by 2050.

The CBS asked thousands of companies about their current CO2 emissions status. About 1.5 percent answered that they were climate-neutral, and that does not include very small companies and self-employed people.

The survey was only conducted among companies with five or more employees in industry, automotive, retail trade, and services. According to CBS chief economist Peter Hein van Mulligen, this group is comprised of a few hundred companies at most.

More than a quarter of the companies said they were climate-neutral to a small or very small extent. In addition, there was a very large group of companies, almost 37 percent, that did not know where they stood at all. This is the first time that CBS has published this data. Van Mulligen therefore speaks of a "zero measurement".

According to the economist, whether we will succeed in being climate-neutral by 2050 is questionable. "Just an ambition is often not enough," he says. "We still have 26 years to go. Then we will have to add thousands of companies every year that are completely climate neutral." However, Van Mulligen also emphasizes that it is ultimately about reducing CO2 emissions to net zero. According to him, these survey figures say nothing about the progress in that area.

More than two-thirds of companies expect to invest in sustainability this year. This mainly concerns investments to use energy more efficiently, save energy, or produce circularly. On balance, companies expect to invest more money in making their company climate-neutral this year than last year. Companies also expect to spend more on sustainable purchasing.

A quarter of companies indicated they experience obstacles in making their company climate-neutral. The main obstacles are the higher costs of more sustainable alternatives and uncertainty about the economy or policy.

Entrepreneurs in the hospitality industry also say that they have too little of their own money or cannot easily find financing for sustainability. Industrial companies also suffer from having to wait for a power connection because the electricity grid is full or they do not yet have access to a hydrogen network.