Every Day Climate Day

Skipness Castle, Kintyre Peninsula, Scotland. Scotland is dotted with beautiful remnants of castles. Some so many years old that there are often only a few walls left standing, which at best appeal to the imagination. Skipness Castle is an exception. It still has several rooms that are intact. Seeing such a monument makes you wonder: how did they keep warm, so without gas? That history sometimes becomes topical again, we see today. The demand for methods to heat monuments without gas is more urgent than ever. And this is only one of the problems we will face in the coming years.

In late December 2018, the long-awaited draft Climate Agreement was released. In it, five sector tables (built environment, mobility, agriculture and land use, electricity and industry) led by the Klimaatberaad presented their preliminary plans for CO₂-reduction laid down. As a follow-up, the Senate voted in favor of the Climate Act on Tuesday, May 28. This law enshrines the main lines of climate policy. This establishes the route by which we want to achieve the climate goals. But what does this law mean now? And what mechanisms will we have in place to ensure that we stay the course on the way to achieving those goals?

To begin with, the Climate Act is a "framework law": one that regulates general principles, responsibilities and procedures. The main framework forms three clear goals: greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced by 49% by 2030 compared to the 1990 calibration year. By 2050, they must be 95%. At the same time, the share of greenhouse gas-neutral electricity must be increased to 100% by 2050. 

How we are going to achieve these goals must become clear in the Climate Plan that the government must make every five years. That plan contains the most important decisions the government will make in subsequent years in the area of climate policy. It also includes, among other things, the maximum CO2 emissions per sector for five years and five-year targets for energy savings. Six to twelve months prior to the adoption of the Climate Plan, the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL) calculates the plan. This is how we stay sharp.

The political signal is clear, it is serious. Given the goals, the Climate Act will enter into force as soon as possible. It is expected as early as this year. The actual success of the Climate Act depends on the final Climate Agreement: the concrete package of measures that companies, organizations and the government are currently negotiating at the climate tables and that will be part of the first Climate Plan. The announcement of the Climate Accord is expected in late June, early July. 

The climate plan serves as a handhold for the annual Climate Note: a cabinet response to the Climate and Energy Outlook that PBL will publish on every fourth Thursday in October, which contains the latest figures and other current issues about the climate. To keep the promises made alive, this day will henceforth be called Climate Day. But with the ambitious climate goals in mind, from now on it will actually be Climate Day every day for us!

Liesbeth Schippers, Lawyer-partner at Pels Rijcken