by Jesse Wieten
THE HAGUE, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- The Netherlands is going to implement a stricter climate policy, as stated in the new government agreement, which some experts took as an ambitious plan.
"I was pleasantly surprised," said Paul van Seters, professor of Globalization and Sustainable Development at Tilburg University, recently to Xinhua, on the climate part in the new Dutch coalition government deal. "I had expected much less attention for climate issues. That's a positive signal. This subject must be taken seriously."
"It is important that the climate gets such an important position in the government agreement," added Bastiaan Zoeteman, professor at the Tilburg Sustainability Center at the Tilburg University, to Xinhua. "It was also necessary, because we were running behind in the energy transition."
The energy transition is generally defined as a long-term structural change in energy systems, with a current focus on the transition from polluting emissions to a world of more sustainable energy. Last Tuesday the new Dutch government coalition of the rightist liberals VVD, Christian democrats CDA, leftist liberals D66 and the small Christian party ChristenUnie presented their government deal with much attention for sustainability and the climate.
"This the greenest cabinet ever," said ChristenUnie party leader Gert-Jan Segers.
The new government stated that it wished to meet the standards of the Paris Agreement and even wanted to go further.
In December 2015, the Paris agreement on climate change was finally adopted with no objection by the 196 Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
On the basis of equity and common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities, the Paris agreement calls for aiming to hold global average temperature rise to below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and strives for limiting the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
The European Union has so far been at the forefront of the international efforts towards a global climate deal, by already taking steps to implement its target to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40 percent by 2030, compared to 1990, by at least 60 percent in 2040 and by 80 percent in 2050.
"That EU commitment is insufficient to achieve the goals of below 2 degrees Celsius, let alone the ambition of 1.5 degrees Celsius," the new Dutch government stated in its coalition agreement. "We need more. We therefore set the Dutch bar higher than the EU's commitment."
The new government announced measures to prepare the country for a reduction of 49 percent by 2030. To achieve this goal, the new cabinet plans a national climate and energy agreement that provides sectors with the long-term goals they have to meet.
For the short term, the Dutch government announced actions in all main sectors responsible for emissions. The industry should focus on more recycling, efficiency and the capture and storage of CO2, the transport sector on biofuels and electric cars and the power generation should be about wind power on sea, solar energy, the closure of the last five Dutch coal plants before 2030 and also about the capture and storage of CO2.
The building sector should, according to the agreement, focus on isolation and better use of energy and the agriculture should concentrate on a more clever use of land and on a decrease of methane emissions.
In addition, the new government introduces a minimum CO2 price for the electricity sector.
"It helps that the government links the climate measures to price mechanism by making environmental polluting behavior more expensive, by introducing this CO2 minimum price in the electricity sector and by making energy tax adjustments," said Professor Zoeteman. "That means we are moving in the right direction."
The new Dutch government expressed further ambitions. "In the EU, we take the lead to even reach the target of emission reduction at 55 percent in 2030," according to the government agreement. "In 2019...it is the first opportunity to sharpen international goals. We will use that. If the EU as a whole is insufficiently ambitious, we will collaborate with neighboring countries to jointly agree additional commitments."
Professor Van Seters said,"There's so much that can change over the forthcoming years in the energy transition. Maybe we are going to reach this goal easily, maybe not. It is about expressing the ambition. That's good."
"We have to take it step by step," concluded Zoeteman. "Of course it cannot change all of a sudden. We now have a government with a serious ambition and we will see what happens."
To implement the plans the Netherlands will get a Minister of Climate for the first time. Probably a man or woman of the D66 party, which is mainly responsible for the climate part of the government agreement. "It is important to give the post to someone with knowledge and stature, someone who is able to change," Van Seters said.
