Residents of the Caribbean island of Bonaire, a special municipality of the Netherlands, have urged a court to compel the Dutch state to accelerate its greenhouse gas cuts, arguing that worsening heat, drought, and rising sea levels are making life increasingly difficult.
Farmer Onnie Emerenciana, in his 60s, told the court that soaring temperatures are harming the health of the elderly and poor, while droughts devastate crops and encroaching seas threaten to erase the island’s historic slave huts.
“We are succumbing under the effects of greenhouse gas emissions that we have barely contributed to,” Emerenciana told the district court in The Hague.
Demand For Net Zero By 2040
Bonaire in the southern Caribbean is a former Dutch colony and became a special Dutch municipality in 2010. It has around 20,000 inhabitants who are Dutch citizens.
The eight named plaintiffs in the case, who are joined by environmentalist action group Greenpeace, want the Netherlands to cut its net greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2040, 10 years ahead of its current plans, and say the Dutch government has not done enough to protect the island against rising sea levels.
Legal experts on climate change cases say the Dutch case is one of the first to test the obligations set in a landmark 2024 European climate ruling and this year’s World Court opinion on a national level.
“If successful, the Netherlands will need to increase its climate ambitions beyond the current European Union targets – setting a new bar for climate action in Europe,” Lucy Maxwell of the Climate Litigation Network told Reuters.
“Effective climate policy is not a political choice but a duty and a right,” plaintiffs’ lawyer Michael Bacon told judges.
Lawyers for the Dutch state argued that it was not up to courts to make government policy.
“The state is meeting its obligations towards Bonaire by complying with its own climate policy and joint European Union climate targets,” state attorney Edward Brans said.
The hearings will continue into Wednesday and there is no date for a ruling yet.
(With inputs from Reuters)
