Dutch will press ahead with controversial carbon tax for industry: FD

DutchNews, September 12, 2020 

The Tata Steel plant in IJmuiden. Photo: Depositphotos.com

The cabinet is pressing ahead with plans to introduce a carbon tax on industry, and the measure is included in the 2021 budget which will be presented to MPs on Tuesday, the Financieele Dagblad reported on Saturday. 

Officials had suggested earlier that the tax would be delayed because of the coronavirus pandemic and the reluctance to saddle industry with an extra tax. 

However, junior tax minister Hans Vijlbrief  told European finance ministers in Berlin on Saturday that the Netherlands would be pressing ahead with the measure and that he hoped other EU countries might make the same move, the FD said. 

This, he said, would prevent Dutch companies moving their more polluting activities to other EU countries to avoid the tax. 

The carbon tax is one of the most sensitive parts of the government’s plans to help realise the Paris climate targets and companies such as Tata Steel, Yara and Dow Chemical have already said the measure will damage their competitiveness. 

Aviation 

Vijlbrief also told EU ministers that the Netherlands is still planning to bring in a tax on flying in 2021, the paper said.  However, he said, he would look again at the date of January 1, given the impact of coronavirus on the aviation industry. 

‘On the other hand, what is a good moment?’ he said. ‘This is a form of transport which is not taxed in any way whatsoever.’ 

Germany, France, Sweden, Italy, Belgium, Luxemburg, Denmark and Bulgaria have already said they supported the Dutch call for an EU tax on flying. 8

New corporate initiatives aim for carbon neutrality

Yahoo – AFP, July 21, 2020

Apple is stepping up its efforts on climate change, with a pledge to be carbon 
neutral across its entire business by 2030 (AFP Photo/Emmanuel DUNAND)

New York (AFP) - Nine global corporations unveiled an initiative Tuesday to step up efforts to move to a "net zero" carbon emissions society, while Apple announced its own plan to be carbon neutral by 2030.

A new coalition including US-based Microsoft, Germany's Mercedes-Benz AG, France's Danone and Anglo-Dutch Unilever aims to "develop and deliver research, guidance, and implementable roadmaps to enable all businesses to achieve net zero emissions," according to a statement by the group.

The initiative, known as Transform to Net Zero, aims to help businesses achieve zero emissions no later than 2050.

"Over the past decade, many businesses have committed to net zero targets. It is now time to accelerate the actions needed to achieve this essential goal," said Aron Cramer, president of the nonprofit consultancy BSR, which will serve as the secretariat for the initiative.

"We are now in a decisive decade, in which we must urgently decarbonize the economy, if we are to stave off the worst impacts of climate change."

Other founding members of the coalition include the Danish shipping giant Maersk, Brazilian personal care firm Natura & Co, US-based Starbucks and Nike, India-based tech firm Wipro and the nonprofit Environmental Defense Fund.

"The gap between where we are on climate change and where we need to be continues to widen," said Fred Krupp, president of Environmental Defense Fund.

"This new initiative holds tremendous potential for closing these gaps. Especially if other businesses follow in the coalition's footsteps."

Apple goes green

Apple meanwhile said in a separate announcement it would become carbon neutral by 2030 for all its operations including manufacturing.

The California tech giant, which is already carbon neutral for its corporate operations, said the move would mean no climate impact for all its devices sold.

As part of an environmental update, Apple said it plans to reduce emissions by 75 percent by 2030 while developing "innovative carbon removal solutions" for the remaining 25 percent of its comprehensive footprint.

This includes investing in projects to restore savannas in Kenya and a mangrove ecosystem in Colombia to remove or store carbon.

"Businesses have a profound opportunity to help build a more sustainable future, one born of our common concern for the planet we share," said Apple chief executive Tim Cook.

"Climate action can be the foundation for a new era of innovative potential, job creation, and durable economic growth."

Apple said it has commitments from over 70 suppliers to use 100 percent renewable energy for Apple production.

As part of the effort, Apple will also establish an "accelerator" fund to invest in minority-owned businesses to contribute to the initiative, as part of its $100 million commitment to promote racial equity and justice.

Scientists foresee 'untold suffering', another climate record falls

Yahoo – AFP, Marlowe HOOD, Elizabeth DONOVAN, November 6, 2019

President Donald Trump formally notified the United Nations Monday of the US
withdrawal, triggering concerns of how other nations might react (AFP Photo/
GEORGE FREY)

Paris (AFP) - More than 11,000 scientists warned Tuesday of "untold suffering" due to global warming, even as another team said Paris carbon-cutting pledges are "too little, too late".

The European Union, meanwhile, confirmed that last month was the warmest October ever registered, fast on heels of a record September and the hottest month ever in July.

Three-quarters of national commitments under the Paris climate accord to curb greenhouse gases will not even slow the accelerating pace of global warming, according to a report from five senior scientists.

The sobering assessment came a day after President Donald Trump formally notified the United Nations of the US withdrawal from the 2015 Paris climate pact, triggering concerns of how other nations might react.

"With few exceptions, the pledges of rich, middle-income and poor nations are insufficient to address climate change," said Robert Watson, who chaired both the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the UN's science body for biodiversity.

"As they stand, the pledges are far too little, too late."

In parallel, more than 11,000 scientists sounded a five-bell alarm in the peer-reviewed journal BioScience, noting that the world had failed to act on global warming despite the accumulation of evidence over 30 years.

"We declare, clearly and unequivocally, that planet Earth is facing a climate emergency," the statement said.

Emissions of the gases warming Earth's surface must drop 50 percent by 2030 and to "net zero" -- with no additional carbon entering the atmosphere by mid-century -- if the Paris treaty's goal of capping warming at 1.5 to 2.0 degrees Celsius is to be met, the IPCC concluded last year.

And yet 2018 saw unprecedented global carbon pollution of more than 41 billion tonnes, two percent higher that 2017, also a record year.

Global temperatures have increased 1 C above pre-industrial levels -- enough to boost the impact of deadly heatwaves, floods and superstorms -- and are on track to rise another two or three degrees by the end of the century.

"Failing to reduce emissions drastically and rapidly will result in an environmental and economic disaster," said James McCarty, a professor of oceanography at Harvard University, and co-author of the analysis of voluntary Paris pledges to reduce carbon pollution.

Just over half of greenhouse gas emissions from power, industry, agriculture and deforestation -- the main drivers of global warming -- came from four nations last year: China, the United States, India and Russia.

Accounting for 13.1 percent of the total, the US has turned its back on the Paris deal.

"China and India could say 'damn it, we're going to demonstrate to the world that we are climate leaders'," Watson told AFP.

Ranking of countries on emission reduction pledges under the Paris climate 

accord (AFP Photo/Sophie RAMIS)

EU gets passing marks

"Or they could say 'if the US is not going to do it, we're not going to either'. It could go either way."

China has said it will lower carbon intensity and peak emissions by about 2030.

But the size and staggering growth of its economy will likely overwhelm such marginal improvements, the scientists said.

At 29 percent of the global total, China alone pumps out more CO2 than the next three nations combined, though about 13 percent of those emissions are generated by exports destined for rich nations, recent research has shown.

India, which is ramping up both renewable energy and carbon-intensive coal-fired power, accounted for seven percent in 2018, and Russia -- which has made no pledge at all -- added 4.6 percent.

The efforts of the world's top four emitters was deemed "insufficient", according to the report.

All told, nearly three-quarters of 184 registered pledges were judged inadequate to stop climate change from continuing to accelerate in the next decade.

All but a handful are unchanged since being submitted in 2015 and 2016.

Among major economic blocs, only the European Union, with its 28 member states, got a passing mark.

"The EU is clearly in the lead in trying to address the climate crisis," Watson said.

The emissions of the world's poorest nations have been and continue to be negligible, but steps must be taken today to shape their energy futures.

"Sooner or later, they will start to grow, and we don't want them to become dependent on cheap fossil fuel energy," Watson noted.

"They need financial and technical assistance."

Under the Paris treaty, developing nations are to receive $100 billion annually from next year to help curb climate change and cope with its impacts.

Related Article:

20TH KRYON SUMMER LIGHT CONFERENCE, US (7), June 2-4, 2017 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) (Text version "The State of the Earth")

"A Summary" – Apr 2, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll)

(Subjects: Religion, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Intelligent/Benevolent Design, EU, South America, 5 Currencies, Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Middle East, Internet, Israel, Dictators, Palestine, US, Japan (Quake/Tsunami Disasters , People, Society ...), Nuclear Power Revealed, Hydro Power, Geothermal Power, Moon, Financial Institutes (Recession, Realign integrity values ..) , China, North Korea, Global Unity,..... etc.) - (Text version)

“… The Weather

Let's talk about the weather. We retreat to exactly what we told you before in this very chair. The water cycle is a cooling cycle, not a heating cycle. You're going to have more severe winters and storms. It's going to get colder. But it gets warmer before it gets colder. That is the cycle, and it has always been the cycle. You can see it in the rings of the trees and the cores of the ice. Don't let your scientists pull the political wool over your eyes for their own purposes. Start seeing these things for what they are. It's a recurring cycle based on four Earth alignment attributes, including the wobble (the precession). You're in this cycle. Prepare.

The beginnings of it will be with you from now at least until the end of the 2012 36-year window, and you can watch it work. The first thing that happens is that the ice melts at the poles, but not completely. It's the way it has happened before. As the redistribution of weight from the poles to the oceans of the earth takes place, the weight is redistributed to the crust, and that creates earthquakes. And the earthquakes that will be the most powerful are the ones that are closest to the poles. We told you that some time ago. So it's not a mystery that suddenly you have some of the most powerful earthquakes that you've ever had. Not only that, but a cooling ocean creates larger storms.

What do the conspiracists do with all this? "See? We're doomed. Here it comes," they say. "Here it comes! The end is here!" Twenty-two years ago, we gave you the information that is happening today. We told you about the weather. We told you to get ready for it, but we still haven't told you why the water cycle is needed. We've hinted at it since it is very controversial, and we'll lose many readers right here and now. Here's the prediction: The scientists are going to laugh and biologists are going to scratch their heads and roll their eyes.

The Refreshing of the Cycle of Life

When you change the temperature of the waters of the planet, it changes the life cycle of the ocean and it eventually renews itself. The life cycle of the planet has a limit to its viability over time. There has to be a refreshing of the very cycle of life, and this is what the water cycle does. Are there any places you've seen too many fish lately? Yes. Millions of salmon in the north. Odd that it was in Alaska, isn't it? Alaska is very close to the poles where the water temperature is being felt first. Oh, again the experts will tell you that this is not the reason. It's about hatcheries and rivers. But nobody predicted this, did they? Science is fast to give you reasons, but slow to give you logic in advance. They always seem to be surprised.

We are saying things we haven't said before. Again, watch for this, an actual change in the life cycle of the planet's oceans because of the water temperature shift. Biologists are going to have to start redesigning the paradigm of how everything works, including reefs, ocean bottoms, and how plankton survive and reproduce. Listen, this is not the first time that the life cycle has been refreshed! But again, this may take generations of humanity to complete. In the process, you may again lose species. This is normal. Gaia is slow, and Humans are impatient. Your textbooks may someday tell of how naive humanity was back in 2011 when they tried to blame weather changes on everything but a natural cycle. Now you know why there is a water cycle.

So what does that tell you about Gaia? Gaia is beginning the cycle of refreshing life on over-fished oceans. It tells you that in the cracks, there is love and caring about the Humans who live on the earth. There's a reason you're here. There's a plan here, and a benevolent Universe and quantum energy with intelligent design. All is there for you, precious, sacred Human Being. …”

THE RELATIONSHIP TO GAIA - April 2010 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll)

New Mini Ice Age

"The weather you have today, and all the alarming attributes of it, is a scenario of what was scheduled to happen on Earth anyway. I review again that the weather changes you are seeing prophesied by myself, 21 years ago, are not a surprise. The changes are not caused by the pollutants you put in the air. You call it global warming and that's a nice phrase, and perhaps that will get you to put less pollutants in the air – a very good thing. But what you are seeing in the weather shift today was not caused by Humans putting things into the air. It would have happened anyway in about 300 years."

"We've called this process the water cycle, since it's all about water, not about air. The water is the predominant attribute of Gaia and of the weather cycle you're seeing. More predominant is the temperature of it. The cycle is ice to water and water to ice, and has been repeated on this planet over and over and over. It is not new. It is not exceptional. It is not frightening. But it's a cycle that modern humanity has not seen before, and it's a long cycle that is beyond the life span of a Human Being. Therefore, it tends to be overlooked or not seen at all !"

"In the days of the Lemurians, the water level of the Pacific Ocean was almost 400 feet lower, and that's only 50,000 years ago. [Kryon invites science to check this out – the water level at that time.] That was a water cycle working, and the reason it was lower was due to so much of the water being stored as ice. Today you're going through another water cycle that will eventually lead to cooling. The last one was in the 1400s."

"Science sees that at about 1650. As mentioned, they are so slow there is no remembrance that a Human has of them except in past writings and in the rings of the trees. The time span of the changes is so great that environmental record keeping does not exist in the form that it does today. But you can still look at the rings of the trees and at the striations of the rocks and can generally figure out that a few hundred years ago, you had a mini-ice age. Now you're going to have another one." 

Tree-planting to offset carbon emissions: no cure-all

Yahoo – AFP, Pierre DONADIEU, 18 September 2019

Carbon offset schemes are based on trees absorbing carbon dioxide -- but can
planting compensate for pollution that causes global warming?

A few euros, a couple of mouse clicks and a tree is planted -- as air travel is increasingly becoming a source of guilt, consumers and companies are looking for other ways to ease their conscience and reduce their carbon footprint.

But as more polluting industries join efforts to offset their carbon emissions, the effectiveness of the approach is open to debate, with some critics suggesting that tree-planting schemes are nothing more than a fig leaf.

Once marginal, the offset movement has even reached the arch-enemy of environmentalists: big oil.

Shell has ploughed $300 million (270 million euros) into forest plantations to reduce its carbon footprint by 2-3 percent, Italy's ENI has set an objective of zero net emissions via its forestry investments, and France's Total plans to set up a special "business unit" next year to spend $100 million annually on compensation efforts.

Beyond the grand statements, carbon offset schemes basically follow the same, simple mechanism.

A polluting company or individual purchases a credit equivalent to a tonne of carbon dioxide and the purchase price is paid directly or indirectly into an emissions reduction scheme, such as planting trees which absorb CO2 responsible for global warming or investment in renewable energy sources.

This is the principle that the civil aviation industry is adopting with its initiative CORSIA (Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation) starting from 2020. Sixty-five countries have signed up to it so far -- equivalent to 87 percent of all international activity in the sector.

"There will be a number of eligible carbon reduction schemes and airlines will be able to buy the equivalent tonnes of CO2 via these projects," says Nathalie Simmenauer, Air France's head of environment and sustainable development.

The aim is to reach "neutral carbon growth" -- that is to ensure future emissions are held at 2020 levels.

Civil aviation is responsible for between 2 and 5 percent of global CO2 emissions

'A cop-out'

While trees are an important tool for regulating the climate, reforestation alone cannot whitewash a company's carbon-emitting activity, say activists.

"If you don't reduce your emissions and don't stop deforestation, you're not going to solve anything by merely planting trees," says Stephane Hallaire, president and founder of Reforest'Action, which has planted 3.8 million trees in nine years.

For just three euros, the company will plant a tree adapted to the local biodiversity and purchase part of a carbon credit for a foreign forest conservation project.

But Hallaire argues that reforestation must also be accompanied by better behaviour elsewhere.

Jean-Francois Rial, the head of the environmentally friendly tour operator, Voyageurs du Monde, agrees.

He fervently advocates so-called "absorption", where "precise and sustainable" reforestation projects are identified and financed without the use of carbon credit systems, which are seen by some as more opaque and less effective.

"It's a cop-out that risks dissuading society collectively from making greater effort and investing in costlier technologies," says Alain Karsenty, researcher at the French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD).

Large-scale reforestation also poses other problems: the planted trees may compete with local cultures and forests and may not necessarily be beneficial to the local environment.

"These are often fast-growing species such as eucalyptus, pines, because we need trees that store carbon very quickly, but it can end up causing problems of biodiversity, soil drying," Karsenty said.

Reforestation alone is "insufficient", but still "better than nothing", and, for the time being it is just one tool among others to reduce emissions, the expert says.

That is until technological advances that allow the efficient capturing and storage of CO2 from the air or developing jets that run on hydrogen.

"It at least lets you buy time. Temporary storage can be a way to make the transition while waiting for breakthrough technologies," says Karsenty.

Big Oil investments bet on failure to meet climate goals: report

Yahoo – AFP, Marlowe HOOD, September 6, 2019

Many projects will only be profitable if climate goals are missed (AFP Photo/
JONATHAN NACKSTRAND)

Paris (AFP) - Oil and gas projects approved by major fossil fuel companies over the last 20 months threaten both shareholder value and efforts to keep Earth from overheating, according to an analysis released Friday.

Eighteen major investments totalling $50 billion would only become profitable if the world exceeds the Paris climate treaty targets for capping global warming, Carbon Tracker, a non-profit financial think tank, concluded.

Similar infrastructure projects worth $21 billion dollars are waiting for a greenlight in the rest of 2019, the report noted.

Across all business sectors, global companies responding to pressure from society and shareholders are scrambling to lay out low-emissions pathways that are "Paris-compliant".

The Paris Agreement calls for blocking the rise in Earth's temperature to "well below" two degrees Celsius compared to preindustrial levels, and 1.5C if possible.

On current trends, the planet will warm about 4C by century's end.

For fossil fuel majors, that transition is especially fraught because the main driver by far of global warming has been the burning of their products: oil, gas and coal.

Even under the less ambitious Paris target, the more costly projects highlighted could become economically unviable, the new report found.

ExxonMobil's $2.6 billion Aspen oil sands project in Canada, for example, would require an oil price of over $80 a barrel to deliver a 15 percent return.

"Investors may or may not be concerned about stopping climate change, but they are worried about the risk to their investment," said Carbon Tracker's Andrew Grant, a senior analyst and co-author of the report.

World electricity production by energy type (2000 and 2018)
(AFP Photo/Jonathan WALTER)

"There's a danger that the fossil fuel companies will misread demand trends and invest in projects that are both bad for the climate and bad for investors," he told AFP.

Some oil and gas giants -- notably Shell, BP, Equinor (formerly Statoil) and Total -- have sought to reassure investors that new investments fit within a low-carbon future, both in terms of profitability and greenhouse gas emissions.

"BP has supported the aim of the Paris Agreement, with its call to rapidly reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the context of sustainable development and eradicating poverty," BP said in a statement, responding to the report.

Stranded assets

The company aims to become "a much broader energy company so that we are best equipped to help the world get to net zero while meeting rising energy demand."

A major UN report last year concluded that global CO2 emissions must reach "net zero" by 2050 to cap temperature rise at 1.5C.

Allowing the planet to warm beyond that threshold would at the same time extend the net zero deadline.

The new investments show that fossil fuel companies -- effectively betting against the Paris targets being achieved -- have plotted a course that assumes higher temperature increases and that their products will continue to dominate energy needs for many decades to come.

The new report is the first to assess individual projects undertaken by the global oil and gas industry for compatibility with the Paris Agreement.

Chart showing the annual growth in global energy demand (AFP 

Photo/Laurence CHU)

The researchers measured their climate impact against two possible futures outlined by the International Energy Agency (IEA), an intergovernmental organisation with 30 members.

The most ambitious, known as "beyond 2 degrees", or B2DS, would cap global warming at 1.6C -- close to the Paris 1.5C goal.

The Sustainable Development Scenario would result in a 1.7C to 1.8C world, equivalent to "well below" 2C.

The IEA has also laid out a third pathway consistent with current national carbon-cutting pledges that would see temperatures rise 2.7C above preindustrial levels.

Carbon Tracker found that at least 30 percent of investments made by publicly traded oil majors -- including ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell, BP, Total, Eni and ConocoPhillips -- were incompatible with the IEA's most ambitious scenario.

ExxonMobil showed the greatest risk of "stranded assets" in a low-carbon world, with more than 90 percent of potential spending over the next 12 years positioned outside a 1.6 C future.

For Shell, the figure was 70 percent, followed by Total (67 percent), Chevron (60 percent), BP (57 percent) and Italy's Eni (55 percent).

"The oil and gas companies are certainly not aligned with Paris, and they are investing in projects that -- if we are successful with the Paris goals -- will not deliver value," Grant said.

Carbon Tracker also singled out projects including Shell's $13 billion liquefied natural gas project in Canada and BP's $4.3 billion deepwater oil project in Azerbaijan as vulnerable to a future economy in which market prices will not justify the costs of development.

Related Articles:

Oil industry under pressure to respond to climate change
Shell to link carbon emissions targets to senior executive pay

"Recalibration of Free Choice"– Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth, 4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical) 8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)

“… 4 - Energy (again)

The natural resources of the planet are finite and will not support the continuation of what you've been doing. We've been saying this for a decade. Watch for increased science and increased funding for alternate ways of creating electricity (finally). Watch for the very companies who have the most to lose being the ones who fund it. It is the beginning of a full realization that a change of thinking is at hand. You can take things from Gaia that are energy, instead of physical resources. We speak yet; again about geothermal, about tidal, about wind. Again, we plead with you not to over-engineer this. For one of the things that Human Beings do in a technological age is to over-engineer simple things. Look at nuclear - the most over-engineered and expensive steam engine in existence!

Your current ideas of capturing energy from tidal and wave motion don't have to be technical marvels. Think paddle wheel on a pier with waves, which will create energy in both directions [waves coming and going] tied to a generator that can power dozens of neighborhoods, not full cities. Think simple and decentralize the idea of utilities. The same goes for wind and geothermal. Think of utilities for groups of homes in a cluster. You won't have a grid failure if there is no grid. This is the way of the future, and you'll be more inclined to have it sooner than later if you do this, and it won't cost as much…

Water

We've told you that one of the greatest natural resources of the planet, which is going to shift and change and be mysterious to you, is fresh water. It's going to be the next gold, dear ones. So, we have also given you some hints and examples and again we plead: Even before the potentials of running out of it, learn how to desalinate water in real time without heat. It's there, it's doable, and some already have it in the lab. This will create inexpensive fresh water for the planet. 

There is a change of attitude that is starting to occur. Slowly you're starting to see it and the only thing getting in the way of it are those companies with the big money who currently have the old system. That's starting to change as well. For the big money always wants to invest in what it knows is coming next, but it wants to create what is coming next within the framework of what it has "on the shelf." What is on the shelf is oil, coal, dams, and non-renewable resource usage. It hasn't changed much in the last 100 years, has it? Now you will see a change of free choice. You're going to see decisions made in the boardrooms that would have curled the toes of those two generations ago. Now "the worst thing they could do" might become "the best thing they could do." That, dear ones, is a change of free choice concept. When the thinkers of tomorrow see options that were never options before, that is a shift. That was number four.”

Amsterdam coal-fired power plant to close four years early

DutchNews, March 7, 2019

The Hemweg power plant and switching station. Photo: Pbech via Wikimedia Commons

The coal fired power station in Amsterdam’s port area will be closed next year, rather than in 2024 as planned, broadcaster RTL said on Thursday. 

Political sources told RTL that the measure will be approved at Friday’s cabinet meeting. Ministers are being forced to take steps to reduce carbon dioxide emissions following last year’s Urgenda court case. 

Last October appeal court judges ordered the Dutch state to step up efforts to cut CO2 emissions in a case brought by campaign group Urgenda. 

Current forecasts say the Netherlands is on course to reduce CO2 emissions by only 23% of 1990 levels by 2020, rather than 25%. Closing the Netherlands five coal-fired power stations would be a quick win to help reach the target. 

Owner Nuon said earlier it did not have objections to an earlier closure if the government helps fund dismantling the plant and putting together a redundancy package for the workforce. 

The financial details will be published in the government’s spring financial statement.

Minister looks into early closure of coal-fired power stations

DutchNews, November 1, 2018

Coal fired power stations could close earlier. Photo: Depositphotos.com 

Economic affairs minister Eric Wiebes may consider closing one or more coal fired power stations earlier than planned to comply with CO2 reduction goals, broadcaster NOS reported on Thursday. 

During a debate on Dutch plans to combat climate change late on Wednesday night, the minister admitted for the first time that the Netherlands is unlikely to reach the official target of cutting emissions by 25% compared to 1990 in two years time. 

Experts say the government’s present climate policy will not lower CO2 emissions by more than 23%. That means some 4 million tonnes of CO2 emissions remain unaccounted for. 

The early closure of, for example, the coal-fired power station in Amsterdam, which is planned for 2024, would be good for some 3 million tonnes. 

The closure would form part of a package of additional measures which the minister said would be put in place next year, depending on the results of a new report on emission levels by Netherlands environmental assessment agency PBL due in January. 

Five plants 

The Netherlands currently has five coal-fired power stations, of which the three biggest and most polluting are in Rotterdam and the Eemshaven. The cabinet will shortly come up with a proposal for the closure of all five by 2030.

Last month, appeal court judges ordered the Dutch state to step up efforts to cut CO2 emissions in a case brought by campaign group Urgenda. 

The state appealed against a decision three years ago that required it to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25% of 1990 levels by 2020. It was the first time a court had ruled that a national government was legally bound to follow through on promises made in international climate agreements.

Seven Dutch political parties join forces with a new climate agreement

DutchNews, June 28, 2018

Photo: Depositphotos.com

Seven parties in parliament have reached agreement on the text of a new climate law which says the Netherlands should aim to cut carbon dioxide production by 49% (compared with 1990) by 2030

In addition, the new law says that there should be a legally binding reduction of 95% by 2050 and that electricity production should also be 100% CO2 neutral by then.

‘This is the most ambitious climate law in the world,’ said GroenLinks leader Jesse Klaver. ‘It is historic and it is going to change the Netherlands.’ 

The four coalition parties, plus GroenLinks, Labour and the Socialists have been working on a new climate law since February. 

The new climate law is not the only measure being worked on to reduce climate change in the Netherlands. 

The government has also set up five groups of experts to look at ways to reduce the Netherlands’ dependence on fossil fuels in different sectors. 

The group looking at the built environment, led by former Labour leader Diederik Samsom, recently recommended gas tax hikes. Others are focusing on transport, industry, electricity generation and agriculture. 

Their recommendations are due to be published in the next few weeks.

Large investors ask Shell to set targets to comply with Paris climate accord

DutchNews, May 22, 2018

Various campaigners had gathered outside the meeting. Photo: Anke Teunissen via HH

 A group of 26 large institutional investors have petitioned Shell to formulate concrete goals in its effort to address the terms of the Paris climate accord. 

The 26 investors, which have a total of $7.8trn under management, presented a statement to the Anglo-Dutch energy giant during Shell’s AGM in The Hague. The group of  26 includes HSBC Global Asset Management, AXA Investment Manager, Aegon, Calpers en MN.

In its statement, the investors applauded Shell’s ambition to reduce its carbon footprint by 50% and called on other oil and gas companies to follow suit. 

The investors urged Shell to ‘translate this ambition into firm medium and short term targets, aligned with the Paris Agreement, driving sustainable capital allocation decisions to be made in the vital 2020-2030 period.’ 

Meanwhile, a motion by campaign group Follow This, which called on Shell to set up firm targets to meet the Paris agreement, was rejected by 95% of the votes cast. 

Shell’s board had urged shareholders to reject the motion, which was highlighted but not supported by the investors responsible for the statement. 

It is the third year in a row that Follow This had brought a climate resolution to Shell’s AGM.

Michael Bloomberg pledges $4.5m to Paris climate deal

Yahoo – AFP,  23 April 2018

US businessman and former New York major Michael Bloomberg has led nearly
1,000 business and government officials in declaring they would honor the accord
despite Trumps move to pull out of the agreement

Former New York City mayor and billionaire philanthropist Michael Bloomberg on Sunday promised $4.5 million to fulfill the United States's commitment to the Paris climate agreement.

"America made a commitment and as an American if the government's not going to do it we all have responsibility," he told CBS's Face the Nation.

Last June, US President Donald Trump announced the US would withdraw from the pact, championed by his predecessor Barack Obama. The president, whose Republican party has strong ties to the fossil fuel industry, said that the agreement was unfair to the world's largest economy.

"I'm able to do it. So, yes, I'm going to send them a check for the monies that America had promised to the organization as though they got it from the federal government," Bloomberg said.

The landmark treaty was agreed by 197 nations in 2015 after intense negotiations in Paris, where all countries made voluntary carbon-cutting pledges running to 2030.

The pact saw countries agree to limit average global warming caused by greenhouse gases from fossil fuel burning to under two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) over pre-industrial levels.

Days after the announcement the US was quitting the agreement, Bloomberg led nearly 1,000 business and government officials in declaring they would honor the accord.

The group, including the likes of Apple, Amazon, Google and known collectively as "We Are Still In," branded Trump's decision "a grave mistake that endangers the American public and hurts America's economic security and diplomatic reputation".

Meanwhile 76-year-old Bloomberg, who was mayor of New York from 2002 to 2013, also pledged to muster $15 million for the United Nations' climate body.

In January of this year, Trump said he would be willing to sign the US back up to the Paris climate accord, but only if the treaty undergoes major change.

Bloomberg said he hoped Trump would change his mind in time for next year's payment due from the US.

"He's been known to change his mind. That is true," Bloomberg said.

"But he should change his mind and say look there really is a problem here. America is part of the problem. America is a big part of the solution and we should go in and help the world stop a potential disaster."