Dutch PM calls climate report "very worrying"

Prime Minister Mark Rutte called the new IPCC report on the climate, which said that rising sea levels are unavoidable among other things, "very worrying". He called it "extra important" that climate goals in the Netherlands and abroad are achieved. State Secretary Dilan Yeşilgöz-Zegerius of Climate and Energy said that other countries need to set stricter climate targets, ANP reports.

Rutte acknowledged that there is a gap between the Netherlands' climate goals and the extent to which they are being achieved. The cabinet is working on extra measures and this will also be an important theme for the next cabinet, he said.

The report "makes it even more clear that we must significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the coming decades", State Secretary Dilan Yeşilgöz-Zegerius of Climate and Energy said. She believes that other countries should set stricter climate targets. According to her, the European Union adjusted the climate targets for this reason and it is now a question of "other countries also increasing their ambition". That will be the Dutch commitment during the climate summit in Glasgow later this year, she said. "In our own country, we are doing our utmost to achieve our national climate goals."