Over 100 Dutch firms pledge CO2 emissions cut of 50 percent

A total of 110 Dutch companies, non government organizations and governments are taking concrete measures to cut their CO2 emissions in half by 2020, environmental organization Natuur & Milieu announced on Wednesday. These organizations did so by joining the Dutch Climate Coalition, an initiative of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment, MVO Nederland and Natuur & Milieu. Another 300 companies, governments and NGOs are also part of this Coalition and pledged to be carbon neutral by 2050, though they haven't taken any concrete steps yet. These 110 organizations' concrete steps to reduce CO2 emissions together save 2322 kilotons of CO2 in 2020, according to Natuur & Milieu. This is equivalent to 31.5 million car trips between Amsterdam and Paris and 11 percent of the total CO2 emissions the Netherlands has to cut down on by 2020 to ensure that the earth's temperature does not increase by 2 degrees. "This is just the beginning. If all 400 organizations linked to the Dutch Climate Coalition make their plans concrete, the saving potential is much bigger", according to Kees van der Leun of Ecofys, who did the calculations. "Businesses can make the difference against climate change", according to Tjerk Wagenaar, Director of Natuur & Milieu. "This is precisely why this commitment is so important."