Dutch households and business have almost doubled the amount they spend on goods and services that limit the impact of climate change in the last four years.

Companies and individuals bought €12 billion worth of electric-powered and hybrid cars in 2023, while the total outlay on transport amounted to €18 billion, up from €8.9 billion in 2019, the statistics agency CBS said.

More than €10 billion was invested in producing renewable energy – a 77% increase in four years – almost half of which was spent on installing solar panels. Heat pumps and wind farms also grew in popularity.

Altogether €41 billion was invested in projects and items that limit climate change, up from €23 billion in 2019, nearly half of it on transport and mobility. Companies contributed by transporting more goods by rail and water rather than road and air.

Spending on measures to improve energy efficiency, such as insulating houses, grew by a more modest 10% to €6.5 billion over the four years.

Energy networks

“In percentage terms the biggest increase is for energy networks, where the energy companies have made huge investments,” CBS chief economist Pieter Hein van Mulligen said. “But there is a lot of talk about the energy network being too full and that we need more capacity. So you could say we need to go even further.”

Households accounted for around 30% of expenditure, while businesses spent nearly two-thirds of the total. Direct investment by the government only played a small role, with the exception of the transport sector, the CBS said.

However, the government played an important role in stimulating private investment through subsidies, some of which, such as incentives to buy electric cars, have been scaled down or abolished by the current cabinet.

“We were still in the startup phase and in that phase government policy makes a big difference,” said Hein van Mulligen. “At some point it becomes self-sustaining. If a subsidy disappears it’s not automatically a reason not to make the investment.