State of the Netherlands v. Urgenda Foundation (Dutch: De Staat der Nederlanden v. Stichting Urgenda) was a court case heard by the Supreme Court of the Netherlands in 2019 related to government efforts to curtail carbon dioxide emissions. The case was brought against the Dutch government in 2013, arguing the government, by not meeting a minimum carbon dioxide emission-reduction goal established by scientists to avert harmful climate change, was endangering the human rights of Dutch citizens as set by national and European Union laws.
The initial ruling in 2015, requiring the government to meet an emissions goal of 25% reduction from 1990 levels by 2020, was upheld through the Supreme Court on appeals, affirming that reduction in emissions was necessary for the Dutch government to protect human rights. It is the first such tort case taken against a government challenging climate change aspects based on a human rights foundation, and the first such successful climate justice case.
Background
The United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued its fourth and fifth assessment reports on climate change in 2007 and 2014, respectively. Among other findings, the reports emphasized the need for significant reduction in carbon dioxide emissions in the short-term, by 2030. The European Union (EU) established a goal for all member states to achieve a 40% reduction from 1990 levels by 2030, ahead of the 2016 Paris Agreement which established a similar goal worldwide. Each member state, including the Netherlands, was bound to establish its own national-level policies ahead of the Paris agreement to reach this goal.
The Netherlands had generally been seen as a leading country in trying to limit climate change as much of the country sits at or below sea level and would be significantly impacted by rising ocean levels. During the 2010s, activists asserted that the government started to favor more traditional fossil fuel industries over renewables, and the country began lagging in its commitment to reducing climate change.
The is a climate activist group founded in 2008 representing the interests of 886 Dutch citizens. They had been following the IPCC assessment reports and other climate change reports, as well as the discussion by their attorney, Roger Cox, in his 2010 book Revolution Justified: Why Only the Law Can Save Us Now describing potential routes to seek climate change action by governments through climate justice, the idea that human rights are violated by governments' failure to reduce emissions and prevent climate change. Urgenda wrote to the Dutch government urging them to commit to a 40% reduction in carbon dioxide levels by 2020. The letter not only referred to recent reports like the IPCC assessment, but also implored that the Dutch government had a duty to reduce emissions to protect human rights under EU policy. This is the first-known instance of using the EU's human rights laws in seeking government action towards climate change.
The government, in reply, stated that this target was too aggressive compared to the planned 30% by 2020 target the EU was striving for at the time, and that the country would only commit to a 40% if all other EU member countries had the same objective.
District Court
Urgenda sued the state in September 2013, arguing the state must commit to a reduction of carbon dioxide emissions of 40% by 2030 or a minimum of 25% by 2020, bound by Dutch and EU law. Urgenda's complaint asserted that the government was responsible for managing all carbon dioxide emissions from the country and it was duty-bound by their laws to reduce the nation's contribution to climate change.