Extinction Rebellion Report: Netherland- Landmark Legal Ruling: Governments Must Act Now

On December 20th the Dutch Supreme Court chose to uphold two lower court rulings legally obliging the Dutch government to take action to protect its citizens from climate change. The ruling will reverberate around the world as the case – the first of its kind – has since inspired others, some of which are still progressing through their countries’ legal systems, including one in the US.

Landmark Legal Ruling: Governments Must Act Now

20 DEC | The Hague, The Netherlands

On December 20th the Dutch Supreme Court chose to uphold two lower court rulings legally obliging the Dutch government to take action to protect its citizens from climate change. The ruling will reverberate around the world as the case – the first of its kind – has since inspired others, some of which are still progressing through their countries’ legal systems, including one in the US.

The Urgenda Foundation, a Dutch climate solutions NGO, gathered 886 ordinary Dutch citizen co-plaintiffs and issued their first summons in 2013. In 2015 a district court ruled that the Dutch government was obliged under civil law to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by between 25 and 40% by 2020, due to numerous documents it had signed to that effect at international meetings. The government appealed, but in 2018 the appeals court not only upheld the decision, it ruled the government is also obliged under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), to protect its citizens from harm due to dangerous climate change.

Credit: AP Photo/Mike Corder

The government appealed again, taking the case to the Supreme Court of the Netherlands in The Hague. This latest ruling is the end of the road and means the Dutch government must reduce emissions by at least 25% compared with 1990 levels, by the end of 2020. The win is hugely significant, as it signals the legal arguments used are sound, and 47 states are bound by the ECHR.

The Dutch government did little to try to meet the 2020 target until the 2018 appeals ruling. It has since begun closing one of the country’s five coal power plants and launched new subsidies for renewables and energy-saving measures. Emissions have so far only fallen 15% from 1990 levels, leaving a big gap, but Urgenda has published a plan, in collaboration with over 700 other organizations, setting out 50 measures the government can take to meet its legal obligations to protect its citizens from the climate crisis.

These cases, and others against corporations and investors, “are creating a burgeoning toolkit of environmental jurisprudence,” said Urgenda co-founder, Marjan Minnesma, writing in Naturelast month. “Together, these serve notice on contributors to the world’s still-growing emissions that their inaction is no longer defensible.”