Last week the Hague Court ruled in favour of not-for-profit organisation Urgenda, ordering the Netherlands Government to take greater action to reduce the country’s greenhouse gas emissions. This article in The Conversation provides a great overview of the news and what it means for Australia.
Based on the premise that the Dutch government was not fulfilling a duty of care to its people, the civilian action has resulted in revisions to the nations emissions reduction targets. The case ruled that the current target of a14-17% below 1990 levels by 2020 were insufficient and ordered that this be increased to at least a 25% reduction on 1990 levels. While the delivery of a similar case under Australian law faces a number of technical and legal obstacles, it is no doubt a clear message to governments on their responsibility for delivering effective climate change policy.
An interesting finding of the case was that there was no plausible economic argument that the new targets were outside the reach of the Netherlands Government.
As a precedent for the power of citizenship in these debates, the events in the Netherlands demonstrate the possibility of both domestic and international actions being bought to the Australia government by persons vulnerable to climate risk.
