The Netherlands

Why The Netherlands Is The Most Sustainable Nation In The Industry 5.0 Era

The Netherlands tops the Sustainability sub-index, which measures a country’s sustainable innovation, workforce participation in green industries, and public expenditure on environmental protection.

Sustainability

How the Netherlands’ sustainability plans make trade stronger

The Netherlands receives high marks in facilitating sustainable trade. Consider Rotterdam’s port, Europe’s largest seaport and a gateway for international trade flowing through much of the continent, accommodating nearly 30% of the European Union’s container traffic. Operators at the port are integrating artificial intelligence to enhance its efficiency and sustainability, including better data analysis to optimize traffic flow, predict equipment failures, and improve efficiency.

The Netherlands invests heavily in clean energy technologies

The Netherlands stands out among its peers in clean energy investments. Renewable energy accounted for nearly 20% of the Netherlands’ gross energy consumption — up from 17.4% in 2023 — thanks to new offshore wind turbines and increased biodiesel use. The share of renewable energy is expected to increase with a 10-year, roughly $40 billion climate and transition fund to support sustainable electricity, hydrogen, heating networks, and two new nuclear reactors.

The Dutch government approved in April 2025 a roughly $13 billion growth package to stimulate the clean energy market, with investments in carbon capture infrastructure and power grid expansions to make way for more wind and solar energy. The government also announced a roughly $726 million commitment to construct the Netherlands’ largest carbon capture and storage project.

Separately, the country allocated more than $170 million in 2024 to support clean technology companies that develop solar panels, energy storage batteries, and hydrogen solutions.

The Netherlands’ circular economy plans will support sustainability and greener jobs

The Dutch government’s 2030 circular economy program outlines more than 200 policy measures to halve the use of primary raw materials by 2030. One such policy measure, for example, calls for the government to publish a list of electronics technicians so that consumers can easily find a repair service rather than discard their device.

The government is working with businesses to support this transition by encouraging entrepreneurs in circular value chains to collaborate, providing subsidies to small and medium-sized enterprises that want to make a value chain circular, and offering funds and guidance to consortiums of businesses that aim for major circular value chain breakthroughs. Shifting to a circular economy will also include workforce transition plans, with investments from the National Growth Fund in technical jobs at all levels, vocational and scientific education, and circular skills programs at vocational and university levels.

The government is also developing a skills overview for job profiles needed in the circular economy that it will share with manufacturers. The Netherlands’ Just Transition Fund will invest about $721 million to retrain 49,000 workers from fossil-fuel-dependent sectors to jobs in renewable or climate-neutral industries. The first of these projects trains workers to use concrete printers to recycle demolished building materials. The Netherlands’ Action Plan for Green and Digital Jobs also calls for cooperation between the education and business sectors to develop new technical training initiatives.