The Hague Court of Appeals has upheld a ruling which requires the Dutch government to protect its citizens from climate change by accelerating its reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
The case was brought by the environmental group Urgenda on behalf of 900 Dutch citizens. Urgenda argued that the Dutch government’s commitment to reduce the emission of CO2 gas in advance of 2020 were not ambitious enough. It sought an order that the cumulative volume of the greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced by 40%, or at least by 25%, by the end of 2020 compared with 1990 levels. The Dutch government have in place a target of 16% reduction in gases by 2020, 40% by 2030 and 80-95% by 2050. Current levels were at a decline of 13% in 2017. The State argued that these targets demonstrated commitment to tackle climate change and questioned the court’s role in policy decisions of this nature.
The Court considered jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights which has held that the Article 8 right to private and family life includes the negative impact of environmental matters which have reached a minimum level of severity. Given the State’s knowledge of the real and immediate danger of climate change, it had an onus to take preventative measures and protect its citizens against a real threat to life.
The Court stated that the Government has done too little to prevent climate change and is doing too little to catch up, or at least in the short term up to end-2020. Targets for 2030 and beyond do not take away from the fact that a dangerous situation is imminent, which requires interventions to be taken now. As such, the Court was of the opinion that a reduction of 25% should be considered a minimum and anything else would be unlawful.
On the issue of separation of powers, the Court stated that it was merely applying the provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights as part of Dutch law, as opposed to replacing executive power.
In Ireland, such litigation has inspired similar legal action by Friends of the Irish Environment. This is the first Irish case whereby citizens are seeking to hold the government accountable for its role in contributing to dangerous levels of climate change. In 2017it was recognised that the people of Ireland have an unwritten right to environmental protection under the Irish constitution.
Click here for the judgement.
Click here for a guest piece Gerry Liston of the Global Legal Action Network (GLAN) on their 2017 climate change work