The Netherlands has been failing to achieve its energy-saving ambitions for years, according to a Court of Audit report presented on Wednesday.

This means it is doubtful whether the country will meet agreed European targets, which include cutting CO2 emissions by 20 percent by 2020.

“Energy-saving policy is inadequate,” is the conclusion of the report entitled Energy Saving: ambitions and results. Major energy users, such as electricity companies, remained partially exempt from energy tax, for example, even after a covenant on energy saving was largely abandoned.

The report also slams the European Union's CO2 emissions trading system, which it says “frustrates national policy”. Up until 2005 major consumers were obliged under Dutch law to take energy-saving measures, but this obligation was lifted with the advent of the EU trading system.

The reports recommends that the government focus policy on companies that do not take part in the trading scheme or on long-term innovation.

(mb/imm)

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