The next cabinet must invest €6bn on the environment, including developing nuclear power and storing CO2 underground, says the Energy Transition taskforce in a report to be published today. Of this, €4bn should be spent on innovative technology over the next four years, with the rest invested in nuclear power and CO2 storage. The Netherlands currently has one nuclear power station.

The taskforce, headed by Shell Nederland director Rein Williams, was set up in 2005 to examine ways in which greenhouse gas emissions could be halved by 2050. By building more nuclear power plants and storing CO2 underground, this target could, for the most part, be reached 20 years earlier, the report says.
Environmental organisation Milieudefensie told the Volkskrant it was unhappy with the findings. It would rather see more emphasis on reducing energy consumption and is opposed to nuclear power. It also has doubts about the feasibility of CO2 storage, saying the technique still has to be properly developed.
The report is being sent to both the caretaker government and the informateur, the senior politician in charge of the formation of a new government.