Brussels, 25/06/2015 (Agence Europe) - In a completely unprecedented development a Dutch court has enjoined the Netherlands to do more to address climate change.
A decision handed down by a court in The Hague on Wednesday 24 June has ordered the Dutch government to cut the country's greenhouse gas emissions “by at least 25% by 2020, compared with 1990” when the Netherlands had already set itself a reduction target of between 15% and 17%.
The decision follows from the action lodged by the Dutch NGO Urgenda and 900 Dutch citizens calling on their government to take action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2020. It was hailed by environmental NGOs as “a game-changer” and useful precedent.
In delivering its ruling, the court said that, on the basis of the state's current policy, the Netherlands will have reduced its emissions by 17% by 2020, a figure below the 25-40% recommended for industrialised countries by the IPCC scientists to limit the average rise in the planet's surface temperature to 2 degrees Celsius. The court also highlighted the “seriousness and scale of the climate problem” and the government's duty to “do more to counter the imminent danger” given “its duty to protect the environment”.
“This is a game-changer in the fight against climate change. The Dutch court ruling is clear: the government has a legal duty to protect its people against the threat of climate change”, said Faiza Oulahsen of Greenpeace Netherlands, and she noted that a similar case is being brought in Belgium along with another in the Philippines. (Aminata Niang)