Dutch Supreme Court Orders 25% Cut in CO2 Starting Next Year

(Bloomberg) -- The highest court in the Netherlands ordered the government to cut greenhouse gas emissions next year by at least 25% from benchmark 1990 levels, a landmark ruling that gives legal backing to the idea that climate change is a risk to human health.

The ruling Friday noted that global warming “could jeopardize food supply and cause the rise in sea level, among other things” and required immediate action. David Boyd, United Nations special rapporteur on human rights and the environment, called it “the most important climate change court decision in the world so far, confirming that human rights are jeopardized by the climate emergency.”

The case was brought by a Dutch environmental group Urgenda, which argued that the government needed to cut greenhouse gas emissions by a quarter of the 1990 levels to protect the Netherlands from the effects of climate change. Two lower courts agreed, siding with Urgenda, setting up the showdown before the Supreme Court.

While Prime Minister Mark Rutte had fought the case, arguing the issue was for politicians, not courts, he told reporters in the Hague on Friday that “our goal is to achieve” the reductions by the deadline. His government will continue to work on additional measures, he said, while declining to name specific plans.

“The Supreme Court based its judgment on the UN Climate Convention and on the Dutch State’s legal duties to protect the life and well-being of citizens in the Netherlands,” the court said in a statement after the ruling. The courts were right to order the government to make the cuts “on account of the risk of dangerous climate change that could also have a serious impact on the rights to life and well-being of residents of the Netherlands.”

It isn’t clear what could happen should the government fail to meet the new target and the Dutch Environmental Assessment Agency PBL concluded in January that the government risked missing the court-ordered target for 2020.

The Netherlands has also committed to a 49% reduction of emissions by 2030 compared to 1990 levels.

Click here to read more about the 2015 ruling

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