On Wednesday the 13th of June 2018 seven of the thirteen parties* in the Netherlands presented their joint Climate Law. To me, as a citizen of the Netherlands, and LL.M student in Sustainable Development at the University of Milan, this is an interesting step that shows the unique role of international law on domestic legislation.
During the presentation, the leader of the Greens: Jesse Klaver, took the stage. The reason why he was asked to lead the official presentation is because he personally worked on the first draft in 2015 with his now replaced Labour colleague, Diederik Samsom. According to Klaver, the law is reminiscent of the story of Odysseus, who tied himself to the mast of his ship in order to not be seduced by mermaids. The metaphor illustrates how the Climate Law commits any Dutch government to certain set goals that are to be achieved by set times.
Concretely, the first target is a reduction of 49% of CO2 emissions in 2030 compared to the level of 1990 (9% more ambitious than in the EU 2030 climate and energy framework). The long term goal is to reduce CO2 emissions by 95% respective of 1990 and to solely produce energy from renewable sources. This is a striking exercise of a national parliament integrating the ambitions of the COP21 Paris Climate Accord into national legislation.
As is the tradition in the Netherlands, the type of the measures that are to be implemented are ideally reached through negotiation and consensus. This is for example shown in the manner in which trade unions, employer organisations, and the ministry regularly enter in negotiations behind closed doors on collectivised labour agreements, a common method to standardise labour conditions within specific sectors. The method through which the climate policies are to be created take inspiration from this tradition. In advance of the negotiation rounds five different “climate round tables” have been established: industry (1), construction (2), transportation (3), agriculture (4), and electricity (5). These tables are comprised by a variety of involved parties including businesses, trade unions, and environmental advocacy groups. Two things are clear when entering these talks: that the involved parties will not share the same viewpoint, but also that they have to present a plan to the ministry of economic affairs that will abide by the previously set CO2 reduction ambitions. If these plans are accepted by the minister, they will be known as the climate accord, a separate document that is to be read together with the climate law.
Although the climate law has been adopted by parliament, the climate accord has not been finalised yet. It remains to be seen which specific policies the Dutch will implement and how strong Odysseus’ ropes are when the plans are critiqued.
*The parties refered to are: VVD (Conservatives), CDA (Christian Democrats), D66 (Liberals), CU (Christian Union), GL (Greens), PvdA (Labour party), SP (Socialist party). The first four of these parties are currently in government.
Bibliography:
- European Comission. (2014). Climate & Energy Framework. Brussels: European Comission.
- NOS. (2018, 06 19). Klimaatwet bijna rond, tekst ligt bij 7 partijen in de Tweede Kamer. NOS, pp. 1-2.
- NOS. (2018, 06 27). Klimaatwet komt er, maar niet alle doelen afdwingbaar. NOS, pp. 1-3.
- Postma, R. (2016, 08 14). Klimaatwet moet niet te wild zijn. NRC, pp. 1-3.
