International

Five parties in the Netherlands’ multi-party Parliament, amongst which the SP, this week signed up to a new Climate Law initiative proposal. The Climate Law makes climate goals legally binding and obliges the government to make a climate plan every five years in which it is made clear how the goals will be reached. In an annual climate budget, the plan will be elaborated in more detail. The law will also set a legally binding target of a 55% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 against a reference date of 1990, and a 95% reduction target by 2050. In that same year, renewable energy’s share must have reached 100%.

The result of last year’s consultative referendum was clear: 61% of those voting said ‘no’. That ‘no’ was, just before Christmas, in no time at all bent out of shape by a majority in Parliament, somehow becoming a ‘yes’.