global warming

After this year's hot summer, the Netherlands and the rest of the world can expect another four unusually warm years, according to a new statistical analysis of the world temperature by Sybren Drijfhout of the Dutch meteorological institute KNMI and French colleague Florian Sevellec from the University of Brest, the Volkskrant reports.

The Netherlands is "blind to drought" according to researcher Henny van Lanen of Wageningen University. The country needs to build up larger reserves of fresh water to prevent drinking water running out during extreme droughts, multiple experts warn, Het Parool reports.

"As a low lying country with large rivers, we are always working on preventing wetness. That explains why we are now so surprised by the drought", Van Lanen said to the newspaper. "Dutch water policy is very conservative: the rest of Europe has been arming itself against drought for much longer."

Prime Minister Mark Rutte is participating in the One Planet Summit in Paris on Tuesday. This informal climate summit marks the two year anniversary of the Paris Climate Agreement.

This informal summit was arranged by French president Emmanuel Macron. Its aim is to look at how far countries have come to meeting their climate goals set in the agreement, and to motivate them to achieve these goals.

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 United Nations Global Center of Excellence on Climate Adaption (GCECA) that is opening in the Netherlands, will be based in Rotterdam and Groningen, State Secretary Sharon Dijksma of Infrastructure and Environment announced. The two cities' joint application had the most convincing plan, she said, according to NOS. 

Donald Trump's decision to pull the United States out of the Paris Climate Agreement is a "turning point" in the relationship between America and the Netherlands, Dutch Minister Bert Koenders of Foreign Affairs said in a speech at Harvard University, ANP reports. "On the one hand, cooperation is needed more than ever, but it is also time for Europe to take its own responsibility", Koenders said. 

The United States is pulling out of the Paris Climate Agreement, president Donald Trump announced in a statement at the White House on Thursday afternoon, local time. The Netherlands deplores this decision, Prime Minister Mark Rutte said in response. Our country and the rest of the world remains committed to battling climate change, he stressed. Foreign Affairs Minister Bert Koenders called Trump's decision a "cardinal error", Environment State Secretary Sharon Dijksma called it a "historic mistake".

American companies will face detrimental consequences if U.S. president Donald Trump decides to withdraw his country from the Paris climate agreement, Shell CEO Ben van Beurden warned in an interview with British newspaper Financial Times. Van Beurden is one of the first to criticize Trump's decisions from the business community, which is set to benefit from Trump's promises of tax cuts and relaxed rules, RTL Nieuws reports.

To reach the targets set in the Paris Climate Agreement, the European Union must reduce its CO2 emissions faster, State Secretary Sharon Dijksma of Infrastructure and Environment said in Brussels at a meeting of EU Environment Ministers on Tuesday. The EU's ambitions are too low and the Netherlands and other countries are so concerned that they are considering voting against the EU plans and teaming up to come to their own, separate and more ambitious agreements, the Volkskrant reports. 

On Monday State Secretary Sharon Dijksma of Infrastructure and Environment is giving the go ahead for the establishment of the Global Center of Excellence on Climate change. The center will be based in the Netherlands and is being established by the Netherlands, Japan and the United Nations environmental organization UNEP, NU.nl reports.

A group of 40 large Ducth companies called on the next Dutch government to to lay long-term goals of the Climate Agreement down in law. This is the only way to curb global warming, the companies wrote in a letter in the Volkskrant on Wednesday.