Judges paid by the Netherlands government find themselves in a fix when the Dutch decided to sue the country demanding that the country take measures to reduce its carbon emissions. A group of 900 Dutch citizens has taken the government of the Netherlands to court due to ignoring to take steps to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
This is the first time that a national government has been taken to with regard to climate change — as well as this is the first time that a group of citizens in Europe have made an attempt to hold its government legally responsible for inefficient climate norms.
As it stands, the European Union has verbally promised to cutting emissions 40% by the year 2030, but no concrete commitments were made by the Netherlands. The aim of the case is to pressure the government of the Netherlands to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 25–40% by the year 2020. The attainment of these figures would put the country in accordance with the safety guidelines outlined by the IPCC.
But having said all this, is it the government alone or the citizens who need to take the initiatives to curb pollution? Because reducing carbon dioxide emission will require major changes to most common and ultra modern lifestyles and are the people of Netherlands ready for that? Because walking, bicycling and turning to renewable source of energy is not going to fulfil or support the modern lifestyle requirements.
So for an efficient action plan the Dutch will have to rearrange resources on an individual level and that might mean going back to using their windmills!