Posted on 12/20/2019 6:10:41 AM PST by karpov
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — In a ruling hailed as an “immense victory for climate justice,” the Netherlands’ top court ruled Friday in favor of activists who have for years been seeking legal orders to force the Dutch government into cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
Activists in a packed chamber of the Supreme Court in The Hague erupted into applause and cheers as Presiding Judge Kees Streefkerk rejected the government’s appeal against earlier rulings ordering the government to cut emissions by at least 25% by the end of 2020 from benchmark 1990 levels.
The Supreme Court upheld lower courts’ rulings that protection from the potentially devastating effects of climate change was a human right and that the government has a duty to protect its citizens.
Urgenda, the Dutch climate and sustainability organization that filed the original case, hailed the ruling as “a groundbreaking decision that confirms that individual governments must do their fair share to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”
“I am extremely happy that the highest court in the Netherlands has confirmed that climate change is a real, severe problem and that government should do what they themselves have declared for more than 10 years is necessary, namely between 25% and 40% reduction of CO2,” Urgenda director Marjan Minnesma told The Associated Press outside the court.
Faiza Oulahsen of Greenpeace in the Netherlands called the ruling “an immense victory for climate justice.”
It is now more than four years since a court in The Hague first ordered the emissions cut in a case brought by Urgenda that spawned similar legal challenges in courts around the world.
The Dutch government appealed that verdict, saying that courts shouldn’t be able to order the government to take action. The government lost the appeal in October 2018, but appealed again
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...
Along the Ohio River are some of the most massive state of the art coal powered electrical generation plants in the world. I challenge any person to stop by any one of them.
Those of us of a certain age know what burning coal smells like. Do any of these modern coal fired plants offer any hint of pollution? Nada. Nothing. No smoke. No smells. Other than a little water vapor, there is no sign of any activity. They have so many pollution controls including carbon scrubbers that you might as well be visiting a shopping mall.
It is obvious to me that the Left are science deniers.
The Land of the Bicycle will cut carbon emissions ,LOL
This will hurt too many “immigrants”.
They just need to start rounding up white people and putting them in camps with no heat or AC.
That is “justice”, according to the left.
Let them freeze in the dark. “””
It might be a race between freezing to death or starving to death.
Farmers CANNOT comply with these rules, and food WILL NOT be grown to feed the population.
Get ready for “Hongerwinter Part Twee”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_famine_of_1944%E2%80%9345
And there goes agriculture in Holland. Farmers should plow their crops, under-cull their herds, and demand to be compensated for the reminder of their lives and the lives of their heirs. Stupid decisions by courts should hit those who allowed such courts to have such control.
The government should impose draconian measures to cut energy use.
Every homes should be forced to have a government controlled thermostat. Electric meters should have an automatic shut-off if a home exceeds their allotted limits. Tax gas to force people to walk and bike.
Just have the government issue a list of the most extreme proposals they can think of.
When the people realize what 'cutting energy' means they'll lynch the activists (and maybe the judge).
The Netherlands contribures less than .5 percent of human CO2 emissions. Even the most draconian proposals would reduce this to say, .4 percent. Virtually a rounding error. This is mere virtue signaling albeit with a heavy cost for the Dutch people.
That’s what all that legal dope has done to the intelligence of that country.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.