CO2 emissions from road traffic fall for the first time since pandemic

- CO₂ emissions from road traffic 2.2 percent lower than ten years ago.
- CO₂ emissions from commercial vehicles higher in 2025 than in 2015.
- Emissions from passenger cars lower than in 2015.

In 2025, road traffic in the Netherlands emitted 26.6 billion kilograms of CO₂ emissions. That was 2.2 percent less than 2015 emissions and 1.6 percent less than in 2024. This is the first decrease in CO₂ emissions from road traffic since the coronavirus pandemic of 2020-21. This is according to the most recent figures from Statistics Netherlands (CBS).

In 2025, almost 58 percent of CO₂ emissions from road traffic in the Netherlands were attributable to passenger cars. In total, passenger cars emitted nearly 15.4 billion kilograms of CO₂, 1.9 percent less than in 2024. The number of kilometres travelled was up by 0.6 percent, however.

More electric vehicles

One of the reasons for the lower CO₂ emissions from passenger cars was that more kilometres were driven in electric vehicles. Fully electric cars emit no CO₂ at all while they are being driven. CO₂ emissions per kilometre from non-electric passenger cars remained virtually unchanged between 2024 and 2025. This refers only to CO₂ emissions during driving, and excludes emissions released when generating electricity to charge electric cars, for instance.

Emissions from commercial vehicles down

Light and heavy commercial vehicles combined accounted for nearly 40 percent of CO₂ emissions from road traffic in 2025. CO₂ emissions from these categories were down by 1.7 percent and 0.9 percent respectively compared with 2024. This was mainly because the number of kilometres driven fell by 0.7 percent for this category of vehicle. CO₂ emissions per kilometre were down by 1.5 percent for light commercial vehicles and remained virtually unchanged for heavy commercial vehicles.

Emissions from passenger cars lower than in 2015

CO₂ emissions from road traffic are 608 million kilograms lower than they were a decade ago. Passenger cars emitted 9.1 percent less CO₂ than in 2015 - 1,534 million kilograms.

Vehicles with a moped licence plate account for the smallest share of CO₂ emissions from road traffic, at 0.2 percent, but this was also the category of vehicle that saw the largest fall in emissions in relative terms. In 2025, they emitted 47 million kilograms of CO₂ compared to 83 million kilograms in 2015.

Buses and coaches accounted for 1.2 percent of CO₂ emissions from road traffic. Their CO₂ emissions are 39.9 percent lower than a decade ago, at 204 million kilograms.

One of the reasons for this fall is that there are more low-emission vehicles on the road, including more electric vehicles. In 2025, 7.4 percent of passenger cars were fully electric; for mopeds, the share was 14.7 percent; and for buses, it was 26.9 percent.

CO₂ emissions from commercial vehicles higher than in 2015

When the categories of light and heavy commercial vehicles are combined, their CO₂ emissions actually increased by 1,186 million kilograms compared with 2015. This is mainly because commercial vehicles were used 14.6 percent more in 2025 than they were in 2015. 4.1 percent of commercial vehicles are fully electric.