Netherlands
NLDThe Netherlands has taken the carbon out of its electricity fast.
551 grams of CO2e a kilowatt-hour in 2015, 254 in 2025.
What this grid depends on
Three measures that say more about a country than how much power it makes. Open “what this means” on any of them if the term is new.
Cleaner than 7 in 10 grids worldwide.
What this means
How much planet-warming gas is released to make one unit of electricity. Two countries can generate exactly the same amount and one of them be ten times dirtier doing it. Lower is better.
Netherlands generates a surplus and sells it on.
What this means
The share of what this country generates that is sold abroad rather than used at home. A country can only export if it produces more than it needs, which usually means plentiful hydro, nuclear or wind.
A mix of fuel produced at home and fuel bought in.
What this means
How much of what this grid runs on the country can supply itself. Sun, wind and water count fully, because nobody can cut them off; coal, gas and oil only as far as the country digs them up. A high score is not the same as a good grid: mining your own coal scores well, importing uranium scores badly.
Also true of Netherlands
The Netherlands gets next to none of its electricity from hydro, in a region built on it.
51% of grids in Europe draw more than a tenth of their power from hydro.
The Netherlands has cleaned up its grid faster than most people realise.
Low-carbon electricity went from 30% to 54% in 5 years.
The Netherlands is among the world's biggest wind and solar producers and still burns fossil fuels for most of its power.
46% of its electricity is wind and solar; 46% is still fossil. Both are true at once, and that tension is the whole story of the transition.
Netherlands’s neighbours
BelgiumBelgium gets next to none of its electricity from hydro, in a region built on it.
GermanyWind overtook coal on Germany's grid in 2023.
IrelandIreland is among the world's biggest wind and solar producers and still burns fossil fuels for most of its power.
United KingdomWind overtook nuclear on United Kingdom's grid in 2019.
LuxembourgWind overtook bioenergy on Luxembourg's grid in 2023.
Figures are for 2025, the most recent year reported for Netherlands. Generation shares are a percentage of electricity generated, not of energy used. How this is calculated.