The Climate Act

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The “Climate Act” is currently being discussed in the House of Representatives. The Climate Act is not yet a law, but a bill that is currently being discussed by the House of Representatives.

The chances of the bill being passed are very high. No fewer than seven political parties have broadly supported the bill, namely the VVD, CDA, Groen Links, Christen Unie, the Labor Party, D'66 and the SP.

The intention of the bill is that the Netherlands will reduce CO2 emissions by 95% over the next 32 years compared to the year 1990. This plan goes further than that of the European Union, which aims for a reduction of 80% by 2050.

In addition to the target for 2050, there is another target of a reduction in CO2 emissions of 49% by 2030.

As an instrument to achieve these reductions, a climate plan must be established every 5 years. The outlines of climate policy for the Netherlands must be laid down in this document. The first climate plan must be ready and laid down in the course of 2019. The States General (House of Representatives and the House of Representatives) will continue to control the final content of the climate plans.

In addition, the advice of the Council of State must be obtained on the content of the climate plans. The climate plan must be further prepared using the administrative uniform public preparation procedure, in which interested parties can submit views.

The Netherlands is not the first country to have a Climate Act. Mexico, Great Britain, Sweden, France, Norway, Denmark and Finland already have a Climate Act.

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R. H. van Dyke