greenpeace

The Climate Agreement that the Dutch government is presenting on Friday afternoon is insufficient for fair and effective climate policy, according to environmental organizations Greenpeace and Milieudefensie and trade union FNV. "A few crucial improvements are needed to ensure that we achieve the right breakthroughs for the Netherlands and the world", Greenpeace director Joris Thijssen said at a press conference just hours before the government presented its plans, 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.

Tens of thousands of people gathered on Amsterdam's Dam square on Sunday to protest for a more active policy. Carrying signs saying things like 'What will my world look like when I'm as big as you?', 'Save the earth', and 'Do something', the demonstrators marched through the cold and rain from Dam Square to the Museumplein, NU.nl reports.

Minister Carola Schouten of Agriculture wants to use a "light form" of genetic modification as part of her efforts to make agriculture in the Netherlands more sustainable. She is currently working with companies, farmers and Wageningen University to investigate the possibilities for experimenting with the so-called CRISPR-Cas method. She will send parliament a letter about their progress in the coming weeks, she said to the Volkskrant. 

A large coalition of parties from various sectors in the Netherlands is calling on the Tweede Kamer to phase out traditional central heating boilers within three years. By 2021 homeowners should only be allowed to replace their central heating boilers with a more sustainable solution, such as a heating pump or a hybrid heating pump, the parties say, NOS reports. 

The police arrested three seasick Greenpeace activists on Friday. The activists formed part of a group that climbed onto the drilling platform near Schiermonnikoog to protest against gas drilling. They returned to shore because they felt seasick, and was arrested at Lauwersoog in Groningen. 

This year Hurricane Irma, the parliamentary elections in March and the government formation that followed, a Dutch comedian mocking Donald Trump, and gay bashing in Arnhem held NL Times the most readers' attention. Here follows the top 10 most read stories on NL Times in 2017, in contrast to our picks for the top stories of the year.

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.

Greenpeace, Milieudefensie, Oxfam Novib and BankTrack filed a joint complaint against ING over the bank's continued investment in fossil fuels. According to the organization, ING still invests billions of euros in fossil energy and is thereby violating OECD guidelines, BNR reports.

On Thursday morning a group of about 20 Greenpeace activists dug room for and planted 15 meters of super heavy pipe sections at the ING headquarters in Amsterdam Zuidoost. They did so to protest against the Dutch bank's part in financing the highly controversial Standing Rock pipeline in Dakota, United States, Het Parool reports.

Not a single political party in the Netherlands managed to go far enough in their election promises on the environment to reach the climate target set in the Paris Agreement, the Volkskrant reports based on its own analysis of the election campaigns of the Dutch parties. Even where programs embrace the Paris targets, their intentions fall short, according to the newspaper.