Below, the analysis presents statistics on the disclosure of baseline and target years, as well as baseline emissions, for Europe, Europe excluding the Netherlands, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Italy, using data from listed financial companies. The metrics included provide insight into the state of emissions reporting by financial institutions in the Netherlands while providing a global average, regional average, for comparison. For these metrics, financial institutions in the Netherlands have more widespread reporting practices than the benchmark jurisdictions included.
Net‑Zero Commitments and Prudential Risks in the Dutch Financial Sector
Emissions baseline and target years
Disclosure of baselines, target years and quantitative goals support transparency and progress tracking. While, in principle, the choice of a baseline year is not decisive if an institution’s sectoral exposures are aligned with physical emissions-intensity pathways to net-zero, most institutions are not yet fully aligned across their portfolios in practice. As a result, baseline years remain relevant in external communication and supervisory dialogue, as they provide a reference point for demonstrating interim progress and transparency in efforts to improve alignment with net-zero pathways over time.
Providing a baseline year and target year is necessary for investors and stakeholders to assess the meaning of GHG emissions reduction targets for an individual company. In general, the availability of the target year is higher than that of the baseline year for the dataset analysed. Around half of the financial institutions with a stated target year but no corresponding base year have disclosed a net-zero target. In any case, the information provided by financial institutions that lack either base or target information may be insufficient for external evaluation. These metrics are computed by number of firms, by total assets and by assets under management (AUM). Total assets represent everything a company owns, while assets under management (AUM) refers to the investments a firm manages on behalf of clients.
Globally, the baseline year is available for only half of the companies disclosing reduction targets (65% by total assets and 62% by AUM), while 86% of companies (94% by total assets and 97% by AUM) disclosed the target year (Figure A A.1). In Europe, 54% of companies (89% by total assets and 91% by AUM) disclose baseline years, while 84% of companies (98% by total assets and 99% by AUM) disclose target years for their emissions targets. These figures are significantly higher in the Netherlands, where 67% of companies (97% by total assets and 87% by AUM) disclose a baseline year for their targets and 89% of companies (99% by total assets and 100% of AUM) disclose a target year for their emissions targets.
Disclosure of baseline and target years is lower by institution count than by total assets and AUM, indicating stronger disclosure among larger financial institutions.
Note: The disclosure of listed financial institutions with GHG targets is based on available information from 908 listed financial institutions disclosing reduction targets. The analysis includes information from 461 and 783 listed financial institutions, 6 and 8 of which are in the Netherlands, that disclose a baseline year and a target year, respectively.
Source: OECD Corporate Sustainability dataset, Bloomberg, MSCI, LSEG, SBTi Target Dashboard.
The disclosure of baseline emissions provides a clear reference point and enables effective monitoring. Compared with other target details, the baseline emissions are least disclosed by financial companies. Only 26% of listed financial institutions with emissions targets (50% by total assets and 46% by AUM) at a global scale disclosed their baseline emissions (Figure A A.2). In Europe, this percentage is lower, at 21% of financial institutions (67% by total assets and 62% by AUM), while in the Netherlands 44% of financial institutions (90% by total assets and 68% by AUM) disclosed their baseline emissions.
In the Netherlands, baseline emissions disclosure is higher than in other regions by institution count and covers 90% of total assets.
Note: The disclosure of listed financial institutions with GHG emission targets is based on available information from 908 listed financial institutions disclosing reduction targets. The analysis includes information from 237 listed financial institutions that disclose baseline emissions, 4 of which are in the Netherlands (2 insurance companies and 2 retail/commercial banks).
Source: OECD Corporate Sustainability dataset, Bloomberg, MSCI, LSEG, SBTi Target Dashboard.