Sustainability Monitor for the Netherlands 2009

This publication is also published in Dutch.

The monitor is intended to provide a picture of the sustainability of Dutch society. It shows where the Netherlands is doing well and where, from a sustainability point of view, there are still concerns. On the basis of this information, we want to contribute to the debate with policymakers and researchers on sustainable development in the Netherlands.

The monitor presents a set of indicators which provide an extensive description of sustainable development. The scores for different domains provide a picture of the sustainability of Dutch society in a historical and in a European perspective. On the basis of this, the monitor identifies and analyses concerns for the future.

Finding answers to the question of how society can best realise its sustainability goals is a like quest in an ever changing world full of uncertainties. There are no clear-cut answers to most sustainability questions, on the contrary potential solutions always involve trade-offs. An intervention aimed at sustainability in one direction often has a negative effect in other policy domains. The monitor presents a number of these trade-offs which are important in the formulation of sustainability policy.