Dutch insurers launch new ESG sector tables to harmonise emission standards
The Dutch Association of Insurers has launched two new Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) sector tables to develop common standards for measuring CO₂ emissions in key insurance portfolios. Following the completion of two earlier ESG standards in March 2025, the new trajectories focus on private residential buildings insurance and freight vehicle insurance, aiming to create one uniform approach to CO₂ accounting across the insurance sector.
The drive for standardisation stems from the current fragmentation in CO₂ calculations: transport companies, insurers and banks often use different methods, even when they are all based on the Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials (PCAF) methodology. Experience from the earlier sector table on personal motor insurance showed that this can lead to varying outcomes, undermining comparability and trust. By agreeing joint standards for calculating and reporting emissions from home and freight portfolios, the sector aims to improve transparency, credibility and consistency in ESG reporting.
Developing these standards is technically complex but seen as urgent. For freight transport, insurers must deal with fast-changing technology, a wide range of vehicle types and fuels, varying load factors and fragmented data along logistics chains, often of uneven quality. In residential property there is not yet a dedicated PCAF standard, so the sector must build both the data foundation and the methodology while the housing market is rapidly changing due to new energy labels, government ambitions for the built environment and the new Energy Act.
The standards have a twofold purpose: to support insurers in meeting compliance and risk management requirements, and to help clients decarbonise more effectively. Reliable, comparable CO₂ data should allow insurers to provide more targeted advice, reduce administrative burdens and steer portfolios more consistently towards climate neutrality. The work builds on existing initiatives in the banking sector, with joint development of definitions and methods and validation by data experts and external institutions such as Statistics Netherlands (CBS) and TNO. This cross-sector alignment is intended to prevent banks and insurers from imposing divergent data demands on the same counterparties.
Ultimately, the sector tables aim to create a single common language for CO₂ reporting that can drive concrete improvements, such as fewer empty truck kilometres and higher load factors. The project leaders stress that success depends on close cooperation, simplicity and explainability of methods, and active engagement with stakeholders within each organisation. By working together on shared standards, insurers hope to make the transition to a climate-neutral portfolio more practical, comparable and impactful for both the financial sector and the real economy.