The Supreme Court of the Netherlands has ruled that the
Netherlands Government must do more to reduce the nation's
greenhouse gas emissions on human rights grounds
On 20 December 2019, a 7-year legal process in the Netherlands
concluded with the Supreme Court of the Netherlands upholding two
previous decisions by lower courts, requiring the State of the
Netherlands to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by at least 25%
compared with 1990 levels by the end of 2020.1
This case marks an historic development in international
jurisprudence on climate change because it required a decision on
an important question of legal process: whether a domestic court
has the power to enforce compliance with international treaties
against a national government.
