Dutch Court Orders Faster Climate Action
In an unprecedented move, a Dutch court has ordered its government to more steeply cut greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. This is the result of a lawsuit brought against the government by the Urgenda Foundation and 900 Dutch citizens.
Similar lawsuits are pending in other European courts, and it is possible that this ruling will provide precedent for those cases too, ending the political and policy delays that have plagued the Netherlands and other countries.
Ari Shapiro, NPR’s international correspondent in London, sums it up nicely:
“No court in the world has ever directly ordered a government to cut carbon emissions, and this could have implications far beyond the Netherlands.”
This is a huge win for everyone around the world working to address climate change.