Legal Case in the Netherlands – Failure to Curb Climate Change Is a Violation of Human Rights
2GreenEnergy supporter Gary Tulie sent me this piece on a class action suit in The Netherlands. A three-judge panel ruled that government plans to cut emissions by 14-17 per cent compared to 1990 levels by 2020 were illegal, insofar as it would be insufficient to prevent global warming of more than 2°C, which will lead to a violation of fundamental human rights worldwide. Gary notes: Similar cases are in preparation in Belgium and elsewhere.
Wow, that’s amazing, my friend. Thanks so much for bringing it to my attention.
The part that I find most telling is that the ruling contained this little pearl: “The state should not hide behind the argument that the solution to the global climate problem does not depend solely on Dutch efforts.”
One hears this rhetoric a great deal in the U.S., i.e., what we do here doesn’t matter. Nothing could be further from the truth. Obviously, a great number of breakthroughs in cleantech come from R&D work here in the States, and they have ramifications to every square centimeter of the globe.
The Dutch have a much more personal relationship to the issue of global warming… it will cost them a great deal more in managing their dike system.
Even if we were to stop all emissions immediately, we’ll likely still see a sea-level increase of ~2 m over the next century. That would result in a VERY significant increase in flood control costs (as ~2/3rds of the country is vulnerable to flooding,)
So it matters a little more to the Dutch that we target global warming as rapidly as possible. They won’t be able to pressure other countries effectively unless they can show that they themselves are going way above and beyond within their own borders.
Fun fact – to put this into better perspective… In order to bring the U.S. emissions down to 17% less than 1990 levels, if we continue the rate of emissions drop from 2007 to 2013 for another 8 years, we will achieve that goal. So we are dropping our emisisons at a rate that is almost as fast as the Dutch, even though they stand to lose 2/3rds of their country, while we will only lose portions of Florida, Georgia, SC, Mississippi, and Louisiana. We’ve also seen our population increase by 27% from 1990, while the Dutch have seen their population increase by only 14% in that time frame.
That’s something to consider the next time some yahoo tries to claim that the Obama administration hasn’t done anything on climate change.
I wish we were doing more… and I especially wish that the money that we’re spending were better considered and better targeted… but we’re moving forward.
What you write about the Obama administration is exactly right; despite all the pressure from the fossil fuel boys, a great deal of progress has been made.
I’ll write about your comment on Holland in a second…..
Here you go: http://2greenenergy.com/2015/06/26/tribalism-and-climate-change-mitigation/.