Chapter XXIII - Climate Litigation, Climate Act and Climate Agreement in the Netherlands

Summary

INTRODUCTION

In 2015, a Dutch court case attracted worldwide media attention. For the first time, a court of law had ordered a State to adopt measures to tackle climate change. The Hague District Court ruled that the State must take more action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the Netherlands. It ordered the State to ensure that Dutch greenhouse gas emissions in the year 2020 would be at least 25 per cent lower than the 1990 levels. The Urgenda Foundation had requested the court for a ruling.

Late 2018, the Hague Court of Appeal confirmed the District Court's judgment, albeit on different grounds. In the meantime, all branches of Dutch government have been actively involved in climate mitigation efforts. In addition to the judiciary, the legislative and administrative branches within the Dutch system of separation of powers (Trias Politica) are now more intensively involved than in 2015.

Dutch Parliament continued working towards the introduction of a Climate Act. The Act of 2 July 2019, setting up a framework for the development of policy aimed at the irreversible and phased reduction of Dutch greenhouse gas emissions in order to reduce global warming and climate change (Klimaatwet, or Climate Act), entered into force on 1 September 2019, with the exception of Section 7, which will enter into force on 1 January 2020.

A further development was that the administration, in close cooperation with industry and societal parties, worked towards an agreement on voluntary measures to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases in the Netherlands (Klimaatakkoord, or Climate Agreement) and succeeded in June 2019. The Climate Agreement is an agreement between a multitude of Dutch stakeholders with the aim of devising measures to reduce global warming as a result of greenhouse gas emissions, allowing the Netherlands to meet the European and international targets for 2030 and 2050. Covering 600 measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the Agreement is one of the instruments used to execute the order contained in the judgments of the District Court and the Court of Appeal, although it also refers to the year 2020.