The Urgenda case in the Netherlands: creating a revolution through the courts

Abstract

The Dutch NGO Urgenda demanded greater action from the Dutch Government by suing it in 2013 for failing to implement effective climate policies to live up to its own acknowledged goal of 25-40% reduction of greenhouse gases by 2020. With 886 co-plaintiffs Urgenda won in 2015 the biggest climate lawsuit that had ever been filed at that time. The District Court The Hague decided that there was a breach of the duty of care for taking insufficient measures to prevent dangerous climate change (unlawful hazardous negligence). The State appealed, but the Court of Appeal dismissed all 29 arguments. The Court did agree with Urgenda, that filed one cross appeal, that the State also owed a duty of care under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). In December 2019 the Supreme Court of the Netherlands also upheld the decision. This case is seen as a ‘rights turn’ in climate change litigation.