Reference metadata describe statistical concepts and methodologies used for the collection and generation of data. They provide information on data quality and, since they are strongly content-oriented, assist users in interpreting the data. Reference metadata, unlike structural metadata, can be decoupled from the data.
Data presents environmental tax revenue (by tax category - energy, transport, pollution and resource taxes) broken down by economic activity (tax payer), using the NACE classification for production activities extended to cover taxes payable by households and non-residents.
3.2. Classification system
Environmental tax revenue is broken down by: A. type of environmental tax, B. sector/industry of tax payer
A. Classification according to type of environmental tax
For analytical purposes, the environmental taxes are divided into four categories: 1. energy taxes (including CO2 taxes), 2. transport taxes, 3. pollution taxes, 4. resource taxes (excluding taxes on oil and gas extraction).
B. Environmental taxes by economic activity
Environmental tax revenues are allocated to the different tax payers: • by economic activity according to the statistical classification of economic activities in the European Community (NACE Rev.2) • households as consumers • non-residents • not allocated (impossible to be allocated to one of the categories mentioned above)
3.3. Coverage - sector
Environmental taxes by economic activity data cover taxes payable by all sectors of the economy: producers (economic activities by NACE), households as consumers as well as non-residents.
3.4. Statistical concepts and definitions
The environmental tax statistics are compiled based on Eurostat’s 2013 'Environmental taxes - a statistical guide'. Environmental tax is defined as "A tax whose tax base is a physical unit (or a proxy of a physical unit) of something that has a proven, specific negative impact on the environment, and which is identified in ESA2010 as a tax".
Environmental tax statistics are part of European environmental economic accounts, which constitute satellite accounts to national accounts. Thus, environmental tax statistics follows ESA2010 definition of ‘taxes’. Consequently, only payments that are identified as taxes in the national accounts can be reported as environmental taxes whereas other types of payments to government are not excluded from the scope of the data collection. Compliance with the tax definition of the national accounts improves international comparability of the statistics, and is in line with the guidance, concepts and definitions of the System of environmental and economic accounting (SEEA).
3.5. Statistical unit
Data refer to environmental taxes collected by the government and payable by the different economic agents.
3.6. Statistical population
The target population are all production sectors by NACE, households as consumers and non-residents.
3.7. Reference area
Netherlands
3.8. Coverage - Time
1995-2023
3.9. Base period
Not applicable.
Million National Currency (MNAC): euro
The data refer to the calendar years.
6.1. Institutional Mandate - legal acts and other agreements
Statistics on environmental taxes are based on Regulation (EC) No. 691/2011 (Annex II) on European environmental economic accounts as amended by Regulation 538/2014 and Regulation 125/2022, as well as legal acts in the area of national accounts. Data transmission became obligatory in September 2013. Before, Eurostat collected the data on a voluntary basis.
The basis for the national accounts tax aggregates is Table 9 "Detailed tax and social contribution receipts by type of tax or social contribution and receiving sub-sector including the list of taxes and social contributions according to national classification" of the ESA2010 transmission programme - Annex B of Regulation (EU) No. 549/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 May 2013 on the European system of national and regional accounts in the European Union. Moreover, Commission Regulation (EC) N° 995/2001 of 22 May 2001 implementing Council and European Parliament Regulation (EC) N° 2516/2000 of 10 July 2000 on the recording of taxes and social contributions sets the rules for the data sources, time of recording and comparable treatment of taxes and social contributions assessed but unlikely to be collected.
6.2. Institutional Mandate - data sharing
Not applicable.
7.1. Confidentiality - policy
CBS collects data from people, companies and institutions. Upon receipt of these data, all directly identifying personal details are removed as soon as possible and replaced by a pseudo key. CBS uses these so-called pseudonymised data to conduct statistical research. CBS will only publish statistical information without identifiable or traceable personal data. Furthermore, CBS has taken measures to ensure protection from theft, loss or abuse of personal data. CBS will never supply identifiable data to third parties, including other government institutions. However, (academic) institutions may, under strict conditions, be given access to pseudonymised personal or corporate data. These are referred to as microdata.
CBS meets the most stringent requirements as regards data protection. Every year, a privacy audit takes place which is carried out by an accredited external organisation and which results in a Privacy Audit Proof certificate.
This is how CBS demonstrates its compliance with the regulations of the GDPR (the accountability principle). External registrars (data suppliers) are controllers in themselves and in many cases bear a statutory obligation to supply datasets to CBS. The controlling responsibility of data suppliers under the GDPR ceases to exist as soon as data have been received by CBS.
The plausibility of the data is checked for each transmission.
11.2. Quality management - assessment
Not applicable.
12.1. Relevance - User Needs
Not applicable.
12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction
Not applicable.
12.3. Completeness
The data are complete: they inlcude all environmental taxes for the Netherlands, whcih are allocated to producers and consumers, meaning they allow the computation of indicators.
12.3.1. Data completeness - rate
Not applicable.
13.1. Accuracy - overall
The accuracy is considered to be good.
13.2. Sampling error
Not applicable.
13.2.1. Sampling error - indicators
Not applicable.
13.3. Non-sampling error
Not applicable to statistical accounts
13.3.1. Coverage error
Not applicable.
13.3.1.1. Over-coverage - rate
Not applicable.
13.3.1.2. Common units - proportion
Not applicable.
13.3.2. Measurement error
Not applicable.
13.3.3. Non response error
Not applicable.
13.3.3.1. Unit non-response - rate
Not applicable.
13.3.3.2. Item non-response - rate
Not applicable.
13.3.4. Processing error
Not applicable
13.3.5. Model assumption error
Not applicable.
14.1. Timeliness
Statistics Netherlands disseminates data with a delay of about 9 months after the end of the reference year, e.g. data for the reference year 2022 have been available in September 2023. Due to the revision ESA2021, the dissemination of (revised) tax data up to reference year 2023 was a one-off in April 2025.
14.1.1. Time lag - first result
9 months after the end of the reference year.
14.1.2. Time lag - final result
21 months after the end of the reference year.
14.2. Punctuality
Not applicable because there is no release calendar
14.2.1. Punctuality - delivery and publication
Not applicable.
15.1. Comparability - geographical
Not applicable.
15.1.1. Asymmetry for mirror flow statistics - coefficient
Not applicable.
15.2. Comparability - over time
Comparability over time is high as the methodology for environmental taxes follows a well-defined standard.
Comparable time series are available starting with 1995 reference year.
15.2.1. Length of comparable time series
1995-2023
15.2.2. Comparability - over time detailed
Tax type
Reference period
Reasons for breaks
ETS CO2 taxes (emission permits)
Change in method between 2013 and 2014.
Change in EU ETS phase 2 to phase 3. From 2014 onwards freely received emission permits are deducted from the total permits that were handed in. At NACE level, this can result in a net negative value in case more emission permits were received than were handed in.
15.3. Coherence - cross domain
The data are coherent with the National Accounts and the Environmental Accounts.
15.3.1. Coherence - sub annual and annual statistics
Only annual statistics are used for the compilation of this statistic.
15.3.2. Coherence - National Accounts
The Environmental Taxes data is reconcilable with National Accounts data. There are no differences between the two outcomes, except for the allocation of emission permits at NACE level.
15.3.2.1. Coherence - National Accounts detailed
Tax type
Discrepancy
Size of discrepancy
Reasons
ETS CO2 taxes (emission permits)
Allocation of emission permits at NACE level according to the guidelines of Environmental Accounts.
Allocation differs but total value of emission permits is compliant with the National Acounts.
Allocation is based on actual emissions. From 2014 onwards freely received emission permits are deducted from the total permits that were handed in. At NACE level, this can result in a net negative value in case more emission permits were received than were handed in.
15.4. Coherence - internal
Not applicable
Compilation of data en filling questionnaire: 140 hours.
17.1. Data revision - policy
The Environmental Taxes are revised in accordance with Nationational Accounts revisions in the Netherlands.
17.2. Data revision - practice
The last major revision of National Accounts was the 2021 revision. The tax data have been revised accordingly. The main change was in the energy taxes (particularly the taxes on electricity and gas use, where the energy tax reduction was removed from the figures).
17.2.1. Data revision - average size
Not applicable.
17.2.2. Status of data
1995-2022 are final. 2023 is provisional.
18.1. Source data
For the environmental tax revenue the data source is the national tax lists transmitted every year to Eurostat as a complement of table 9 of the ESA 2010 transmission programme. Environmental taxes are selected from the NTLs on the basis of their environmental code (E, T, P, RS).
18.1.1. Source data detailed
Tax Name/ESA Code
Source data for compiling tax revenue by payer
Energy taxes
Excise duties on petrol
Statistics on tax revenues of the government; subdivided according to National accounts/supply and use tables
Excise duties on other mineral oils
Statistics on tax revenues of the government; subdivided according to National accounts/supply and use tables
Taxes on gas and electricity use
Statistics on tax revenues of the government; subdivided according to National accounts/supply and use tables
Sustainable energy surcharge
Statistics on tax revenues of the government; subdivided according to National accounts/supply and use tables
Emission permits
Statistics on tax revenues of the government; subdivided according to Environmental Accounts guidelines
Excise duty on petroleum products
Statistics on tax revenues of the government; subdivided according to National accounts/supply and use tables
Fuel (coal) tax
Statistics on tax revenues of the government; subdivided according to National accounts/supply and use tables
Transport taxes
Tax on passenger cars and motorcycles
Statistics on tax revenues of the government; subdivided according to National accounts/supply and use tables; additional data on investments (national accounts)
Motor vehicle tax
Statistics on tax revenues of the government; subdivided according to National accounts/supply and use tables
Flight tax (air passenger duty)
Statistics on tax revenues of the government; subdivided according to National accounts/supply and use tables
Pollution taxes
Fees on water pollution
Statistics on tax revenues of the government; subdivided according to National accounts/supply and use tables
Sewerage charges
Statistics on tax revenues of the government; subdivided according to National accounts/supply and use tables
Waste collection fee
Statistics on tax revenues of the government; subdivided according to National accounts/supply and use tables
Waste tax
Statistics on tax revenues of the government; subdivided according to National accounts/supply and use tables
Tax on packaging
Statistics on tax revenues of the government; subdivided according to National accounts/supply and use tables
Noise tax civil aviation
Statistics on tax revenues of the government; subdivided according to National accounts/supply and use tables
Manure surplus tax
Statistics on tax revenues of the government; subdivided according to National accounts/supply and use tables
Fees on groundwater and refuse dumps
Statistics on tax revenues of the government; subdivided according to National accounts/supply and use tables
Resource taxes
Tap water and ground water taxes
Statistics on tax revenues of the government; subdivided according to National accounts/supply and use tables
18.2. Frequency of data collection
Annual
18.3. Data collection
The main data source used are the national tax lists (NTLs) transmitted every year by Member States to Eurostat as a complement of table 9 of the ESA 2010 transmission programme.
Eurostat collects and checks data under a specific template respecting national accounts rules.
18.4. Data validation
The validation of the national tax revenue data is done in cooperation with Eurostat. The plausibility and consistency of the data is checked for each transmission.
18.5. Data compilation
The total contributions for each tax are distributed to the tax payer according to the distribution keys in the supply and use tables from the national accounts. They are subsequently aggregated into the environmental NACE A64 industry classification and the environmental tax categories. Sometimes, manual adjustments are made because additional information is available. The distribution keys are revised according to the revision policy of the national accounts. A check is in place to see whether the new numbers and time series are plausible, given any changes in tax policy and tax rates. All taxes are checked every year to see if any new environmental taxes are levied or if any major changes in tax policy took place.
18.5.1. Imputation - rate
Not applicable.
18.5.2. Use of imputation methods
Tax type
Reference years
Method for breaking down revenue to payer
all
From 1995 onwards
Data are obtained from the supply and use tables of the National accounts. In these tables the environmental taxes are allocated to producers and consumers. At each revision of the national accounts, the allocation keys are checked and when necessary improved.
passenger car tax
From 1995 onwards
For the passenger car tax another source is used, namely investment data on cars, allocated to economic activity.
18.5.3. Compilation of estimations
Not applicable.
18.5.4. Compilation of revenue payable by non-residents
This information is collected from the National Accounts supply and use tables.
18.5.5. Compilation of revenue broken down by payer for years before 2008
There was a revision in 2001, 2010, 2015 and 2021.
18.6. Adjustment
Not relevant
18.6.1. Seasonal adjustment
Not applicable.
Data presents environmental tax revenue (by tax category - energy, transport, pollution and resource taxes) broken down by economic activity (tax payer), using the NACE classification for production activities extended to cover taxes payable by households and non-residents.
25 April 2025
The environmental tax statistics are compiled based on Eurostat’s 2013 'Environmental taxes - a statistical guide'. Environmental tax is defined as "A tax whose tax base is a physical unit (or a proxy of a physical unit) of something that has a proven, specific negative impact on the environment, and which is identified in ESA2010 as a tax".
Environmental tax statistics are part of European environmental economic accounts, which constitute satellite accounts to national accounts. Thus, environmental tax statistics follows ESA2010 definition of ‘taxes’. Consequently, only payments that are identified as taxes in the national accounts can be reported as environmental taxes whereas other types of payments to government are not excluded from the scope of the data collection. Compliance with the tax definition of the national accounts improves international comparability of the statistics, and is in line with the guidance, concepts and definitions of the System of environmental and economic accounting (SEEA).
Data refer to environmental taxes collected by the government and payable by the different economic agents.
The target population are all production sectors by NACE, households as consumers and non-residents.
Netherlands
The data refer to the calendar years.
The accuracy is considered to be good.
Million National Currency (MNAC): euro
The total contributions for each tax are distributed to the tax payer according to the distribution keys in the supply and use tables from the national accounts. They are subsequently aggregated into the environmental NACE A64 industry classification and the environmental tax categories. Sometimes, manual adjustments are made because additional information is available. The distribution keys are revised according to the revision policy of the national accounts. A check is in place to see whether the new numbers and time series are plausible, given any changes in tax policy and tax rates. All taxes are checked every year to see if any new environmental taxes are levied or if any major changes in tax policy took place.
For the environmental tax revenue the data source is the national tax lists transmitted every year to Eurostat as a complement of table 9 of the ESA 2010 transmission programme. Environmental taxes are selected from the NTLs on the basis of their environmental code (E, T, P, RS).
The environmental taxes data for the Netherlands are released annually.
Statistics Netherlands disseminates data with a delay of about 9 months after the end of the reference year, e.g. data for the reference year 2022 have been available in September 2023. Due to the revision ESA2021, the dissemination of (revised) tax data up to reference year 2023 was a one-off in April 2025.
Not applicable.
Comparability over time is high as the methodology for environmental taxes follows a well-defined standard.
Comparable time series are available starting with 1995 reference year.
