Dutch court orders government to meet pollution reduction targets or
face millions in fines
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 [January 23, 2025] By
MOLLY QUELL
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — A Dutch court on Wednesday ordered the
country’s government to meet its own goals for reducing overall nitrogen
emissions by 2030, a decision that could have major economic and
political consequences.
The District Court of The Hague criticized the government’s lack of
plans to address the pollution crisis and said that within five years,
half the country's protected nature areas must no longer be threatened
by nitrogen pollution from agriculture, construction and other sources.
In September, the ruling Dutch coalition, dominated by the far-right
Party for Freedom, scrapped an agreement negotiated by the previous
government. The current government has been unable to agree on a
replacement plan.
“The current government has not yet announced any policy based on which
it can be assumed with any scientific certainty that, if implemented,
the statutory nitrogen target for 2030 will be achieved,” Judge Jerzy
Luiten said.
Last week, Prime Minister Dick Schoof announced he would establish a
ministerial committee to come up with solutions.
“It’s definitely a victory after decades of inactions. I think this
verdict shows that the plans of previous cabinets are inadequate, and
now they absolutely have to come up with a plan,” Hilde Anna de Vries of
Greenpeace told reporters after the court hearing.
If the government fails to meet the target, it must pay a 10 million
euro ($10.4 million) fine to Greenpeace.
Pro-farmer lobbying organization LTO called for the government to
appeal.
“The measures needed to achieve the nitrogen targets for 2030 will have
an unprecedented impact on the agricultural sector, housing construction
and the Dutch economy as a whole,” chairperson Ger Koopman said in a
statement.
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 Both sides have six weeks to appeal.
Greenpeace launched the case in 2023 after the government of
then-prime minister Mark Rutte fell, calling into question a package
of measures, including buyouts for livestock farmers and new
regulations.
Under European Union rules, the country must drastically reduce
emissions of nitrogen oxide and ammonia close to nature areas that
are part of a network of protected habitats for endangered plants
and wildlife across the 27-nation bloc.
Although environmental groups had been pushing for nitrogen
reductions for years, a ruling by the country’s highest
administrative court in 2019 halted building permits after judges
concluded exemptions to pollution regulations violated EU rules.
In a country plagued by housing shortages, Rutte’s government
scrambled to find solutions to restart construction projects,
including reducing the maximum speed limit from 130 kilometers per
hour (81 miles per hour) to 100 km/h (62 mph) on many highways.
The agricultural industry became the focus of reduction demands. In
2022 thousands of farmers drove tractors through the streets of The
Hague to protest proposals by the previous government to curb
emissions. They argued that the agricultural sector was unfairly
targeted while other industries contributing to emissions, such as
aviation and construction, faced less far-reaching rules.
The success of right-leaning parties in the 2023 elections,
including one born out of the protests, was in part because of the
backlash to plans to reduce emissions.
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