“Netherlands Announces 122 New Measures to Combat Climate Change, Says Climate Minister Rob Jetten”

It took more than thirty years to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by about 30 percent. But the ultimate goal is not feasible with the current measures: at least 25 percent still needs to be reduced. And that in seven years. That is why the cabinet is coming up with 122 measures today. According to Climate Minister Rob Jetten, the Netherlands will look much greener in the coming years.

The polluter must pay (more) for his emissions, is the basic idea. Jetten said at the press conference this afternoon that some measures will pinch people. There is already energy poverty – more than 100,000 households have applied for emergency support for their energy bills – and many households are struggling with serious purchasing power problems.

Jetten: “An important precondition is justice. Climate policy must work for everyone. We will allocate extra money for the biggest blows: we will make vulnerable neighborhoods with poor houses more sustainable more quickly and with the housing cooperatives we will provide solar panels on rental homes.”

The measurements are mainly aimed at reducing CO2 emissions in industry, mobility and electricity generation. At the pump, petrol and diesel will become a few cents per liter more expensive due to the compulsory addition of biofuel. Everything to combat climate change and limit global warming to a maximum of 2 degrees, and preferably 1.5 degrees Celsius.

The money, 28 billion euros, comes from the climate and transition fund of 35 billion euros. With this, the Netherlands should be “a leader in Europe in combating global warming in the coming decades”, the coalition wrote in the coalition agreement. Jetten: “The Netherlands has been lagging behind for a long time. We were the dirtiest boy in the class.

Sustainability organization Urgenda forced the Netherlands to do more to reduce CO2 emissions through the courts. Today they are satisfied. “It’s a very nice first big step. I think bigger than ever,” says Urgenda director Marjan Minnesma.

But the cabinet is not quite there yet, says Minnesma. “I would like the cabinet to explain in a next step exactly what the Netherlands will look like in the future. Not just a laundry list of measures, percentages and difficult words, but also a clear picture of where we are heading. An image of the future. That takes people along.”

Less happy faces in the industry. The electricity sector must be CO2-free by 2035. In industry, the government wants to reduce emissions by an additional 5 megatonnes by 2030. We would like that, says the foreman of the industrial large-scale users VEMW, but that is not possible “because the preconditions have not been arranged”.

Industry lobbyist Hans Grünfeld: “As a company, if you want to exchange your gas boiler for an electric boiler, you need a connection to the electricity grid. Companies that are currently working on electrification are being told by their network operator almost throughout the Netherlands that there are no capacity is on the grid.”

He thinks it is Jetten’s job to also hold the network operators to the climate targets and to make agreements. “It is incomprehensible that the government is announcing harsh measures towards the industry and neglecting – at least as important – to put the infrastructure in order.”

Jetten: “Better green here than gray elsewhere. We ask companies to become more sustainable. We also arrange that electricity.” The minister says that the government offers help with good climate plans. “Infrastructure will be built faster.”

No meat tax has been agreed in the plans, no end date has been set for subsidies on fossil fuels and it is still unclear how agriculture should be handled. And what many people also find difficult to understand is that the trains are becoming more expensive and running less often.

“We had a very large menu of measures that we could have taken,” says Jetten. About agriculture: “We will do that right in one go with the agricultural agreement. We will give that some time, but if that does not happen, we will make the policy.”

Worldwide, the Netherlands contributes 0.5 percent to global CO2 emissions. That cannot be expressed in degrees of temperature increase. The fact that the Netherlands wants to do so much to reduce emissions, while China and India are opening one coal-fired power station after the other, should be seen as an obligation, says Jetten. “Our signature is also under the Paris Climate Agreement. As a prosperous country, we must lead the way. Let’s take that leading position for a healthier world.”

The climate plan has the support of the coalition parties in the House of Representatives, but it also has to be passed by the Senate, where the cabinet does not have a majority.