Supreme Court: Dutch State to reduce greenhouse emissions by 25% until Dec 2020

Our highest court just ordered the government, based on the European Convention on Human Rights (articles 2 and 8), to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25% as compared to 1990. There are now 13 months left to reach that goal.

The objection from the government that it's too short notice was rejected by the court.

The court cites the realistic chance for loss of life, disruption of the food production, excessive flooding, etc. as reason why the government must take urgent action.

Similar lawsuits are currently going on in other countries. Since the ruling is based on a European convention and the percentage goal and reference year were defined in a climate agreement by the united nations, it seems likely that other countries will have to follow suit.

Since this ruling is barely a few hours old, information (especially in English) is still developing. This was the best article from a reliable source that I could find. Urgenda (the plaintiffs) also has a website, though it is not yet updated in response to today's ruling: https://urgenda.nl/en/climate-case

Quotes from the article. So they push for another 2% reduction within one year?

"to cut emissions by at least 25% by the end of 2020 from benchmark 1990 levels."

"A report [...] estimated that Dutch greenhouse gas emissions in 2020 would be about 23% lower than 1990 levels."

Edit: Sorry, just realized I was quoting the AP article https://apnews.com/5534fe18ac5352ba43c74c9a64d6a20a