Should courts condemn governments for bad climate policy? In the Netherlands it already happened.

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Urgenda wins climate case against Dutch state.

On 24 June 2015 Urgenda foundation together with 900 other claimants won a lawsuit against the Dutch State about national climate policy. Through the court, it was enforced that the Dutch State must have reduced greenhouse gas emissions by at least 25% by the end of 2020, compared to 1990 levels. The appeal lodged by the Dutch government was rejected on 9 October 2018, but the government announced on 16 November that the Dutch state was going to appeal to the Supreme Court.

Marjan Minnesma, the face of Urgenda, believes little that the government is concerned about principles. "That's what they said in the previous appeal but then they objected to all the substantive points in the verdict." According to Minnesma, the government does not make much effort to comply with the judgment. "If they took the verdict seriously, we would already see accelerated actions. For example, closing down coal-fired power stations, or reducing the speed limit on the motorway. " (Trouw newspaper)

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