Netherlands gears up to spend €28bn on slashing emissions by 2030

The Netherlands has announced plans to recalibrate its efforts to slash carbon emissions by pledging to spend billions of euros, according to Reuters.

According to the report, the Dutch government planned to spend €28 billion (R568 billion) in the coming years to guarantee it would meet its 2030 climate goals.

Reuters said the government had also announced a range of measures, which it said would make sure that carbon dioxide emissions in the Netherlands in 2030 would be 55% lower than in 1990. The measures ranged from building large offshore solar power fields to raising taxes for polluting industries.

Last year, emissions were approximately 30% lower in the eurozone’s fifth-largest economy than in 1990.

“The Netherlands has for years missed its climate goals. Now it’s time for a great leap forward,” said Rob Jetten, the country’s minister for climate and energy policy.

He added that with a projected reduction of 22Mt of carbon emissions, the new measures aimed for a 60% reduction by 2030 to ensure that the 55% target would be met.

According to Reuters, Jetten presented more than 120 separate measures to cut greenhouse gas emissions. They included a higher carbon tax for industrial companies and €600 million (R12 billion) in subsidies for second-hand electrical cars, home insulation and solar panels on houses.

The climate minister said the government would start with “the most draughty houses” in “the most vulnerable neighbourhoods”.

Reuters said that the Dutch government was also aiming to make the energy sector carbonneutral by 2035, by, inter

alia, transforming gas power stations to run on hydrogen and connecting wind farms to storage batteries.

PIXABAY Installing solar panels on home roofs is one of the ways that the Dutch government hopes to cut carbon emissions.