Urgenda against the Dutch government

The Netherlands is lagging in climate protection, with the country’s CO2 emissions surpassing the Paris Agreement targets.

Although the Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte has been in office since 2010, three Rutte cabinets have made little progress over environmental legislation. This lack of action led to a successful climate lawsuit against the government in 2013, from environmental organisation the Urgenda Foundation.

Urgenda sued the state government in 2013 to force them to reduce CO2 emissions in the country. They demanded that the government reduce CO2 emissions by 25 per cent by 2020 compared to 1990 levels.

Back in 2015, Urgenda won the legal dispute with a ruling that is considered a historic milestone.

The Dutch government appealed several times until finally, at the end of 2019, the Supreme Court of the Netherlands also ruled in favour of Urgenda.

After seven years of litigation, these judges also ruled that climate change is a threat to the population and that the state must protect its citizens to reduce CO2 emissions as soon as possible.

“The Urgenda process is an inspiration for many climate processes around the world and us as well,” says de Pater.

“We are convinced that everyone must do their part. But especially the big polluters like Shell. The Urgenda process has shown that it is possible to force climate action through a judge.”

Regards Mark