Foreword
The report Policies for a Carbon-Neutral Industry in the Netherlands evaluates the consistency and cost-effectiveness of the set of policy instruments in place in the Netherlands to reach its 2050 decarbonisation objectives in the manufacturing sector and offers recommendations on adjustments of existing policy instruments and further measures. The analysis of the Dutch climate policy package illustrates the strength of combining clear commitment to raising carbon prices with ambitious technology support, uncovers the pervasiveness of provisions aimed at supporting the competitiveness of the industry, and highlights the trade-off between short-term emission cuts and longer-term technology shifts. While the Netherlands does not start from a blank page and can leverage a long experience in carbon pricing and technology support, the challenge ahead is to retrofit this extensive policy package to effectively put industry on the path to carbon neutrality. Importantly, the report offers general lessons for the low-carbon transition beyond the Netherlands, in particular European countries, which feature the same characteristics as Dutch industry.
The OECD Secretariat prepared the report for the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy (EZK) with support from Marten Hamelink and Sander Kes. The report was funded by the Structural Reform Support Programme of the European Commission (DG REFORM) with support from Gaetano Civello. The Scientific Committee of the project comprised Herman Vollebergh, Heleen de Coninck, Ton van Dril, Carolyn Fischer, Andreas Löschel and Joëlle Noailly. Timme Lucassen and Bart Manders from the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) also provided support throughout the project.
The report was prepared by the Division on Productivity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship in the OECD Directorate for Science, Technology and Innovation, jointly with the Division on Tax Policy and Statistics in the OECD Centre for Tax Policy and Administration and the Division on Climate, Biodiversity and Water in the OECD Environment Directorate. The publication was co-ordinated by Antoine Dechezleprêtre and Guy Lalanne, under the supervision of Dirk Pilat, Deputy Director, and Chiara Criscuolo, Head of Division. Authors comprise, in alphabetical order, Brilé Anderson, Emile Cammeraat, Luisa Dressler, Nicolas Gonne, Joaquim Martins Guilhoto and Konstantinos Theodoropoulos.
Further inputs were provided by Peter Borkey and James Philp on emerging technologies; Hélène Dernis and Laurent Moussiegt on patent data; Milenko Fadic on venture capital data; and Clara Kogels on business dynamism data. Sarah Box, Florens Flues, Martijn Haring, Jasper Keuning, Natalya Rijk, Jonas Teusch, Kurt Van Dender, Rosa van der Linden and Henry van der Wiel provided valuable comments on earlier versions of the manuscript. Isabelle Desnoyer-James provided statistical support; Márcio Carvalho and Angela Gosmann provided editorial and formatting support.
External consultants also contributed to this report: Sander de Bruyn and Robert Vergeer (CE Delft); Rutger Bianchi, Max Coenen, Bert den Ouden, Joachim Schellekens, Thijs Verboon and Jan Warnaars (Berenschot); Leonidas Paroussos (E3M Modelling); Marlene Arens, Tobias Fleiter and Meta Thurid Lotz (ISI Fraunhofer); and Cornelis Zandt (Radboud University).
The OECD Committee on Industry, Innovation and Entrepreneurship declassified the report on 2 April 2021 by written procedure. The OECD Secretariat prepared it for publication.