Senay Boztas

The wheels are coming off the Dutch green revolution

Another day, another success in the courts for Dutch environmentalists. This week, the country’s highest court, the Council of State, decided that building is no longer exempt from EU environment protection rules. In one of the world’s most densely-populated countries, where new homes are badly needed – and a 900,000 home building spree had just been announced – this spells trouble: within hours, building association Bouwend Nederland called it a ‘tragedy’ and experts warned it will exacerbate the Netherlands’ housing crisis.

This isn’t the first time the green lobby has enjoyed a victory that leads to confusion and chaos. Farmers continue to vent their fury at plans aimed at reducing emissions that involve cutting livestock numbers and reducing intensive farming. They recognise that some change is necessary: the more than 100 million cattle, pigs and chickens that live on farms in the Netherlands generate massive pollution. But farmers also feel unfairly targeted and unhappy at the speed with which reforms are being brought in – thanks to the target of a 50 per cent reduction in nitrogen compound emissions by 2030.

They aren’t alone: almost one in four Dutch companies is planning to move abroad, according to a new management survey by the Amsterdam Centre for Business Innovation. The unwieldy and unworkable layers of green regulation, swiftly building up, regardless of the consequences, are a factor. Business association VNO-NCW – the Dutch CBI – has given dire warnings that climate court cases are also bad for Dutch businesses. 

Yet others say the pace of reform isn’t swift enough: civil servants and businesses are frustrated by policies and court rulings that seem to hamper, as much as help, their efforts to go green. Three years ago, Amsterdam announced, to international fanfare, that it wanted to lead the world in becoming transport emissions-free by 2030. Many people were on board with the idea to mend the post-Covid economy and heal the planet, although they were more sceptical about wrapping it up in a ‘doughnut’ economic model pioneered by an Oxford economist.

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