Marine Le Pen in France, Giorgia Meloni in Italy, the British leaving the European Union in 2020, former Eastern Bloc countries flirting with communism again and reaching out to Vladimir Putin’s Russia. The Dutch elections, in which the far-right PVV party lead by populist Geert Wilders became the biggest party in the game, fits into the growing right-wing sentiment in Europe [1]. GreenMarked explored the implications of this election result for sustainability in the Netherlands.

As with the Brexit, Wilders wants a “binding referendum” on a Dutch “Nexit” [2]. Moreover, Wilders denies the urgency of climate change and wants to cancel the Paris Agreement:

“The Climate Bill, the Climate Agreement and all other climate measures go straight through the shredder. No billions wasted on pointless climate hobbies, but more money for our people.”  

PVV election programme 2023 [2]

In addition, the entire energy transition should be cancelled if it is up to the PVV. Wilders wants “no more wind turbines and solar parks” as well as “eliminating all climate subsidies”. Instead, coal and gas power plants should stay open” and “new nuclear power plants should be added”, the latter then being the only low-carbon energy source. Contradicting, though, is that Wilders calls for “keeping the solar panel subsidy scheme in place” [2].

While these statements are very alarming, it is important to understand the Dutch political landscape. Dutch politics is characterised by a robust multi-party system, in which no single party traditionally achieves an absolute majority in parliament. Therefore, coalition governments are the norm, requiring parties to engage in complex negotiations to form alliances and shape policy agendas, known as the Dutch “polder model“.

Despite gaining almost a quarter of the votes, it remains questionable whether other parties are willing to enter a coalition with the PVV. Potential coalition parties have been particularly critical of PVV’s controversial anti-Islam views, which are considered unconstitutional. Instead, these potential coalition parties stated that they want to adhere to the rule of law [3]. The outcome depends on the current formation process. Last time, it took almost ten months to come up with a new cabinet.

Adhering to the constitution goes beyond freedom of speech and religion. The Dutch Constitution also includes climate policy, although not explicitly. The Constitution mentions that the government takes care of the environment (article 21), but also has to ensure security of existence (article 20) and public health and housing (article 22). All those articles relate to climate as well [3].

This is obvious where the environment is concerned. However, livelihood security, public health and housing are also threatened by floods, forest fires, dangerously high temperatures, extreme weather – in short, the effects of climate change. Severe storms destroy homes, businesses and vehicles, heat waves cost the lives of vulnerable elderly people in particular [3].

Moreover, climate change will hit the poorest parts of the world hardest – think of the devastating floods in Pakistan. This leads to more displaced people, more refugees, more international conflicts, which is terrible in itself, but on top of that, it leads to more pressure on livelihoods, healthcare and housing in our own societies [3].

This has also been recognised by the Dutch courts. An example is the Urgenda case we reported on in 2021. Here, the Dutch Court and Supreme Court ruled that the Dutch State was violating human rights with insufficiently ambitious climate policies. The human rights that formed the legal basis of that judgment were the “Right to life” and the “Right to private and family life” [4]. Dutch judges are not permitted to review laws for compliance with the Constitution [3].

Fig. 1: Caretaking of the world. Copyright-free photo by Dorothe on Pixabay.

In a democratic constitutional state, politicians may enact any law they want, as long as they abide by the Constitution. The fundamental rights enshrined therein require effective policies in line with the Paris Agreement [3].

As such, top advisers to the Dutch government concluded that a new Dutch cabinet cannot “put climate policy through the shredder” [5]. In addition, these advisers foresee that “applying the brakes [on climate policy] will harm business rather than help” [5].

“EU countries such as Germany and France, which are laying out roadmaps for a low-carbon economy, could be a draw for companies looking to adopt clean technology. As a result, the Netherlands may find itself ‘at the back of the bus’ in Europe, but should still join them to the final destination of a low-carbon society.” [5]

The Netherlands must do its part to keep global warming below 2 °C and should only raise its ambitions in that regard, not lower them. Which measures will be taken to achieve that goal can be negotiated, but the fact that this effective policy must be in place should not be a question at the formation table. Otherwise they risk being overruled by the judge [3].

Beyond climate targets, the Netherlands cannot ignore the consequences of global warming, being the “increasing blue risk”. Even if limited to 2 °C, the Netherlands will face a rise in sea-water way beyond the capacity of its Delta Works defence system [6]. Extreme countermeasures must be taken to prevent the majority of land from flooding [7]. However, can we expect sound water safety policies from a party that denies the root cause of the climate crises?

For both climate policy and water safety policy, doing nothing now will only make it more difficult and expensive in the future. Countering the climate crisis is not only about complying with European directives, but also about protecting their coasts, their land, their people and their future. That is why relating human rights were integrated into the Dutch Constitution.

This article is part of the project “PILLOLE D’ACQUA PIANA: seminari itineranti, blog e podcast per una gestione sostenibile delle risorse idriche in Piana Rotaliana” carried out by ECONTROVERTIA APS and supported by Fondazione Caritro (Prot. no. U445.2023/SG.386 of April 23, 2023).

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References:

[1] Delait, P. (2023, 25 November). After PVV’s victory: Europe’s far-right has many guises (Translated by Author). Retrieved from https://www.limburger.nl/cnt/dmf20231124_96409846

[2] Partij voor de Vrijheid. (2023). PVV Verkiezingsprogramma 2023 (Translated by Author). Downloaded from https://www.pvv.nl/images/2023/PVV-Verkiezingsprogramma-2023.pdf

[3] Burgers, L. (2023, 29 November). Opinion: Dear formative politicians, don’t forget that climate is also part of the rule of law (Translated by Author). Retrieved from https://www.volkskrant.nl/columns-opinie/opinie-beste-formerende-politici-vergeet-niet-dat-het-klimaat-ook-onderdeel-is-van-de-rechtsstaat~ba38c96e/

[4] Hoekstra, E. (2021, 16 April). Climate Justice as a Human Right. Retrieved from https://greenmarked.it/climate-justice-as-a-human-right/

[5] Straver, F. (2023, 6 December). PVV cannot put climate policy through the shredder (Translated by Author). https://www.trouw.nl/duurzaamheid-economie/de-pvv-kan-het-klimaatbeleid-niet-door-de-versnipperaar-halen~b80ef774/

[6] Haasnoot, M., Bouwer, L., […] Sloff, K. & Mosselman, E. (2018). Possible consequences of accelerated sea level rise for the Delta Programme: an exploration (Translated by Author). Downloaded from https://www.deltares.nl/app/uploads/2018/08/Deltares_Mogelijke-gevolgen-van-versnelde-zeespiegelstijging-voor-het-Deltaprogramma.pdf

[7] Bregman, R. (2020). The water is coming: a letter to all Dutch people (Translated by Author). De Correspondent. Downloaded from https://decorrespondent.fetchapp.com/files/a8a80f35

Cover and preview image: Cows trapped by water due to flooding. Copyright-free photo by Art Tower on Pixabay.