In Green Growth in the Netherlands, Statistics Netherlands gives an overview of green growth in the Netherlands. It presents the available data for twenty of the thirty indicators proposed by the OECD, and may serve as a benchmark, as well as a starting point for further discussion.
The main conclusion of the report is that the environmental efficiency of production in the Netherlands has improved. For example, water use intensity has fallen by 46 percent since 1990; nitrogen and phosphorus surpluses in agriculture have decreased by 53 and 77 percent since 1970. And although greenhouse gas emissions and consumption of materials for production have increased, they have done so at a slower rate than economic growth.
The indicators on stocks of natural resources, policy responses and economic opportunities show a contradictory picture. On the one hand, stocks of natural gas have declined, but on the other, the volume of standing timber has increased. And while green jobs and green patents account for a larger share of the labour market and innovations, investments in green capital goods are below the level of the mid-1990s.