[Vision2020] 12-20-19 The Guardian "Dutch supreme court upholds landmark ruling demanding climate action"

[Ted Moffett]

"The most important climate change court decision in the world so far,
confirming that human rights are jeopardised by the climate emergency and
that wealthy nations are legally obligated to achieve rapid and substantial
emission reductions."


Greta Thunberg
https://twitter.com/GretaThunberg/status/1208091604994711553
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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/dec/20/dutch-supreme-court-upholds-landmark-ruling-demanding-climate-action?CMP=share_btn_tw


Court rules Dutch government has duty to protect citizens’ rights in face
of climate change

The Netherlands’ supreme court has upheld a ruling ordering the country’s
government to do much more to cut carbon emissions, after a six-year fight
for climate justice.


The court ruled that the government had explicit duties to protect its
citizens’ human rights in the face of climate change and must reduce
emissions by at least 25% compared with 1990 levels by the end of 2020.

The non-profit Urgenda Foundation, which brought the case, welcomed the
“groundbreaking” judgment. The original
<https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jun/24/dutch-government-ordered-cut-carbon-emissions-landmark-ruling>
judgment
in 2015 was seen as a landmark in the then nascent field of climate
litigation, and inspired similar cases across the world, from Pakistan to
New Zealand.

David Boyd, the UN special rapporteur on human rights and the environment,
said it was “the most important climate change court decision in the world
so far, confirming that human rights are jeopardised by the climate
emergency and that wealthy nations are legally obligated to achieve rapid
and substantial emission reductions.”

The Dutch government had previously said it would comply with the substance
of the ruling, but it repeatedly appealed
<https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/oct/09/dutch-appeals-court-upholds-landmark-climate-change-ruling>
over
the legal basis for the decision. The latest national statistics show the
Netherlands is very unlikely to meet the 2020 emissions target.

The Netherlands <https://www.theguardian.com/world/netherlands> passed its
first piece of national climate legislation in 2018, it has published a
more ambitious carbon plan for 2030, and it is closing its first coal plant
next year.

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Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett
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