Dutch climate targets are ambitious and won’t be met: KEV

Wind turbines in the IJsselmeer. Photo: DutchNews.nl
Wind turbines in the IJsselmeer. Photo: DutchNews.nl

The government’s climate targets are ambitious but will not be achieved at the current pace of change, according to the latest update from four advisory institutes.

The annual KEV report is drawn up by the Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL), national statistics office CBS, the RIVM public health institute and the TNO research group. It shows that the new government target of a 55% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 will fail without policy changes.

At current rates, the decline will be between 39% and 50%, when compared with the benchmark of 1990, the agencies say.

PBL spokesman Pieter Hammingh told broadcaster NOS that time is crucial.

‘It takes a lot of time to expand the energy infrastructure, it costs time to make buildings more energy efficient and it costs time to replace cars by electric vehicles,’ he said.

In addition, a large number of the offshore wind farms in the planning will not come on stream until after 2030, NOS reported.

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