News 22 February 2018 News from SKAO
CBS: "CO2-uitstoot gedaald in het vierde kwartaal van 2017"
The Dutch Central Bureau for the Statistics (CBS) concluded in a research that the carbon emissions of the Netherlands were down by 2,2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2017, compared to the same period of the year before. At the same time the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the Netherlands has increased by 2,9 percent in Q4 of 2017. According to the CBS, the reduction in CO2 was made possible by less energy generated from coal power plants, among other things.
Improved combination of fuels
Another reason for the CO2 reduction is the combined effort of Dutch energy concerns, water management and waste management companies. These organizations have managed to reduce their total amount of carbon emissions by 8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2017, with Q4 of 2016 as a baseline. Together these companies are responsible for 29 percent of the total amount of CO2 emitted in the Netherlands in Q4 of 2017. The CBS concludes that the Dutch utilities companies have improved upon the combination of fuels from an environmental perspective. Next to a decreased use of energy generated from coal power plants, the utilities companies used natural gas. According to CBS, the use of natural gas leads to less carbon emissions compared to the use of energy from coal power plants.
More movement of transportation
Next to utilities companies, households and other services have also contributed to a reduction in the total amount of carbon emissions in Q4 of 2017 compared to the fourth quarter of 2016. According to the CBS, households and office buildings have reduced the use of natural gas for heating. There is however, a surge in the usage of motor fuels for transportation. The Dutch transport sector saw an increase of 3 percent of carbon emissions due to fuel usage. This increase of carbon emissions is mainly caused by freight transport and aviation.
The CBS further reports that agriculture, the extraction of minerals, major industries and the construction sector have emitted more CO2 compared to the previous year. In the fourth quarter of 2017, the chemical and petrochemical industry have had a production increase, which lead to more carbon emissions. Oil refineries have however produced less, which led to a reduction of CO2 emissions coming from these companies.
Source: CBS