Dutch flag carrier airline KLM plans to send ticketed passengers a mobile payment request to offset their share of carbon-dioxide emissions. The airline said it will start the program as a test in 2020 using social media messaging platform WhatsApp to distribute the requests.
All money collected will be invested in a Panamanian reforestation project, the airline said.
Last year road traffic accounted for 17 percent of the total amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted in the Netherlands, according to Statistics Netherlands. The total CO2 emissions from road traffic was 2 percent higher in 2018 than in 2017 and 28 percent higher than in 1990.
Passenger cars accounted for 62 percent of the CO2 emissions in road traffic. Heavy goods vehicles and buses accounted for 20 percent.
The Netherlands and eight other European countries are calling on the European Union to implement a tax on air travel. The governments of the nine countries signed a manifesto calling on the European Commission to come up with a proposal on this front, which will be handed to European Commissioner Frans Timmermans.
Bol.com is investing in sustainability. On Wednesday the largest online store in the Netherlands launched a separate page for only sustainable items. And Bol.com aims to reduce the CO2 emissions to zero within five years, general manager Huub Vermeulen said to AD.
Last year the amount of greenhouse gas emissions in the Netherlands was 2 percent lower than in 2017 and 15 percent lower than in 1990, Statistics Netherlands reported on Wednesday. The Netherlands still has a long way to go to achieve its climate goal of 49 percent less emissions in 2030 compared to 1990.
The skyrocketing demand for energy-guzzling air conditioners in Dutch homes was not taken into account in the government's Climate Agreement. This blind spot means that it will be even more difficult than expected for the Netherlands to achieve its climate goals, the Klimaatverbond Nederland - a collaboration of dozens of local governments like provinces, municipalities and waterboards - said to newspaper AD.
The amount of greenhouse gasses emitted by Dutch airlines increased significantly in the past five years. TUI Airlines Nederland saw its emissions increase by 74 percent, Corendon by 70 percent, Transavia by 33 percent, and KLM by 18 percent, NOS reports based on figures from the Dutch emissions authority NEa.
Dutch nature organization Natuurmonumenten wants to reduce its tree felling. The organization will only cut down trees in its controlled areas if there is good reason to do so. And for every tree that is felled, Natuurmonumenten will plant another one elsewhere, the organization reported to NU.nl on Wednesday.
With its Dutch airports alone, the Schiphol Group is responsible for 13.6 million tons of CO2 emissions per year, according to a study by environmental research agency CE Delft on behalf of Greenpeace. Schiphol itself says it emits only 33 thousand tons of CO2, the Volkskrant reports.
According to CE Delft's calculations, Schiphol is responsible for almost 7 percent of all CO2 emissions in the Netherlands. For comparison, all passenger cars in the country account for 8.5 percent of Dutch emissions.
After months of negotiations, the coalition parties VVD, CDA, D66 and ChristenUnie finally agreed on a Climate Agreement. The main changes to the draft agreement is that the government decided to balance the burdens more evenly between individuals and businesses by shifting the climate tax from citizens to companies and adjusting the energy tax, NOS reports.
The Netherlands could still achieve the emission reduction goals set in the so-called Urgenda ruling, if it closes three almost new coal-fired power stations at the start of next year, research agency CE Delft concluded in a study done at the request of Natuur & Milieu, Greenpeace and the Lung Fund. Closing the coal plants will also not be very expensive, costing 760 million euros, the Volkskrant reports.
The Dutch state will not reach its climate- and energy targets for 2020, the Netherlands' environmental assessment agency PBL concluded in its short-term estimate for 2020. The PBL even goes so far to say that the goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent compared to 1990 by next year, as stipulated in the Urgenda ruling, is "out of reach", NU.nl reports.
Last year CO2 emissions in the Netherlands were at the same level as in 1990, Statistics Netherlands reported. Though the emission of other greenhouse gasses - methane, nitrous oxide and F-gasses - halved in that period. The total greenhouse gas emissions were 13 percent lower in 2017 than in 1990.
A total of 163 billion kilograms of CO2 were emitted in the Netherlands last year, about the same as in 1990. Though the stats office points out that the sectors that produce greenhouse gasses have grown considerably since 1990.
Former Environment Minister Ed Nijpels presented the Netherlands' Climate Agreement to Minister Eric Wiebes of Economic Affairs and Climate on Tuesday. This concerns the agreement in broad terms, with some concrete goals set and agreements made. The rest will be worked out and finalized later this year. The aim is to implement the Climate Agreement in 2019, NOS and NU.nl report.
Used cars from abroad are more popular than ever in the Netherlands, and that is bad news for the government's climate ambitions, according to car dealers' association RAI. In the first three months of this year, the Dutch imported a record number of over 56 thousand used cars from abroad, ANP reports.
Nearly a third of these imported used cars were an alternative to purchasing a new car in the Netherlands, according to RAI. On average, used cars emit 12 percent more CO2 than new cars, the association calculated.
Energy giant RWE is calling on the Dutch government to reconstruct the last five coal plants in the Netherlands to run on biomass, instead of closing them completely. According to the company, this will reduce CO2 emissions even more and make best use of existing infrastructure, NU.nl reports.
With the new Dutch government's plans, the Netherlands can reach about half of the climate goals set in the Paris climate agreement, according to an analysis by living environment planning office PBL. In order to achieve all the goals in the Paris Agreement, which is aimed at limiting global warming to less than 2 degrees, the government must make additional agreements with the Dutch industry, the PBL says, ANP reports.
The new Dutch government presented a very ambitious energy policy in its government agreement on Tuesday. By 2030 the Rutte III cabinet wants the Netherlands' greenhouse gas emissions to be 49 percent lower than the level it was in 1990, a higher goal than what European rules currently demand. The governments is also planning to advocate for a 55 percent reduction in emissions in Europe. But according to environmental organization Greenpeace, while this policy is very ambitious, it is still not enough.
The Netherlands saw an increase in greenhouse gas emissions last year. The total greenhouse gas emissions amounted to 197 billion kilograms of CO2 equivalents, 1 percent more than in 2015, Statistics Netherlands reported on Monday based on preliminary figures.
CO2 equivalents are used to add up the effects of different greenhouse gasses, such as methane and nitrous oxide, on the environment. 1 kilogram of CO2 equivalent is equal to the effect of 1 kilogram of CO2.
The greenhouse gas released in the operation of E.ON's new coal plant on the Maasvlakte in Rotterdam, will be pushed into an existing light oil and gas field in the North Sea. The greenhouse gas will be used as a propellant and will make the extraction of gas and oil from the field cheaper, the Volkskrant reports.
The PvdA is considering submitting a proposal the reduce the maximum speed limit of 130 kilometers per hour on highways in an effort to reduce CO2 emissions.
Eurostat estimates that carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from fossil fuel combustion fell by five percent in the European Union in 2014 compared to a year before. Emissions of CO2 account for 80 percent of all EU greenhouse gas emissions.
There is a lot of unrest on among Terschelling residents about possible gas drilling in the Wadden Sea.
According to Natuur & Milieu (Nature & Environment), wind farms on the sea provide billions to environmental gains, if the social benefits are included.
