{"id":67457,"date":"2025-01-22T11:08:00","date_gmt":"2025-01-22T10:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/nl\/?p=67457"},"modified":"2026-06-25T12:01:32","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T10:01:32","slug":"dutch-court-rules-in-favour-of-greenpeace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/nl\/klimaat-categorie\/67457\/dutch-court-rules-in-favour-of-greenpeace\/","title":{"rendered":"Nitrogen emissions: Dutch court rules in our favour"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Dutch state ordered to get to work immediately to reduce nitrogen emissions in most vulnerable nature areas<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n

The Hague, 22 January 2025 – The verdict has been delivered in the case brought by Greenpeace Netherlands against the Dutch government for its inadequate measures to reduce nitrogen levels in the Netherlands. The court ruled<\/a> that natural habitats in the Netherlands have been proven to have deteriorated, and the State must comply with its own law. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n

The State must get to work immediately to reduce nitrogen emissions<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n

That means the State must bring 50% of nitrogen-sensitive nature below the relevant Critical Load by 2030, prioritising the most urgent natural habitat types.<\/strong>
<\/p>\n\n

\"nitrogen

Greenpeace employees stand in front of the Palace of Justice in The Hague holding a banner reading \u2018No Future Without Nature\u2019 and green signs reading \u2018Protect our nature\u2019.
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

Greenpeace Netherlands Executive Director Andy Palmen:<\/h2>\n\n

‘This ruling is a celebration for nature, finally there is clarity. The State has repeatedly delayed taking measures, leaving society as a whole, but also farmers and businesses, hanging in the balance. It has waited so long that the court has now intervened. The celebration is bittersweet, however, as it should not have taken a court intervention to achieve. <\/em><\/p>\n\n

As a result of the systematic ignoring of the nitrogen problem, nature has continued to deteriorate in recent years, and this is ultimately a problem for all of us. The government has wasted precious time and failed to take necessary steps. As a result of not making choices, urgent measures must now be taken. We expect the government to finally take responsibility in its action plan and ensure that all relevant sectors, including agriculture, traffic, aviation and industry, make a fair contribution. The government will have to come up with proposals that will finally give farmers clarity and support them in a fair way in the necessary transition to ecological agriculture.’<\/em><\/p>\n\n

\"Portraits
Portraits of ecological farmers Suzanne and Sijtse Jan de Veen at their farm Groot Soerel in Voorst in the IJsselvallei, the Netherlands. Greenpeace argues that farmers who are already operating sustainably, like organic farmers, should be protected, and farmers who want to make the transition, should be helped.
\u00a9 Bas Beentjes \/ Greenpeace<\/div><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

Clarity for Dutch farmers on emissions<\/h2>\n\n

It is now up to the government to act on this verdict <\/a>and come up with measures to reduce nitrogen deposition on the most vulnerable nature before the end of 2030. Greenpeace argues that farmers who are already operating sustainably, like organic farmers, should be protected, and farmers who want to make the transition, should be helped.<\/p>\n\n

Nitrogen emissions crisis in The Netherlands (the start of our lawsuit) <\/h2>\n\n

Greenpeace started the ground proceedings against the government in July 2023. This lawsuit is supported by Caring Farmers, Stichting Demeter, and the Federation of Agroecological Farmers. Together, they represent thousands of \u2018green farmers\u2019. Other supporters of the lawsuit are Caring Vets, Caring Doctors, MOB, Milieudefensie, Vogelbescherming Nederland, WWF, SoortenNL and Stichting Natuurbeschermingswacht.<\/p>\n\n

\"Unique
Unique nature is under serious pressure in many places in the Netherlands. Some plants, animals and insects are in danger of disappearing forever. In some places, nature is even already damaged beyond repair. Decades of excessive nitrogen emissions are one of the biggest causes of this.
\u00a9 Jaap Scheeren \/ Greenpeace<\/div><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

The Dutch government has been failing nature for years<\/strong>. Nitrogen emission is the biggest culprit <\/h2>\n\n

The government has been failing nature for years. As a result, nature in the Netherlands is in a poor state in many places. Nitrogen is the biggest culprit. However, dehydration, poor water quality<\/a>, and pesticides also play a role.<\/strong> The result: nature is becoming impoverished and falling silent. The number of insects and birds in nitrogen-sensitive nature has declined rapidly in recent years. Where wild flowers used to bloom, nettles now run rampant. Ecosystems are losing their balance and collapsing.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

We demand that the government abide by its own laws, and we are pushing for real action. Because healthy nature is essential for clean air, clean drinking water, and food security. Protecting nature is protecting ourselves.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dutch state ordered to get to work immediately to reduce nitrogen emissions in most vulnerable nature areas<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":181,"featured_media":67436,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_planet4_optimize_post_is_variant":false,"_planet4_optimize_experiment_name":"","_planet4_optimize_variant_name":"","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"p4_og_title":"","p4_og_description":"","p4_og_image":"","p4_og_image_id":"","p4_seo_canonical_url":"","p4_campaign_name":"","p4_local_project":"","p4_basket_name":"","p4_department":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[129],"tags":[127,18,110,24,97],"p4-page-type":[14],"class_list":["post-67457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-klimaat-categorie","tag-klimaat","tag-landbouw","tag-natuurzaak-tag","tag-politiek","tag-stikstof","p4-page-type-pers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67457","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/181"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67457"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67457\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82487,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67457\/revisions\/82487"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67457"},{"taxonomy":"p4-page-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/p4-page-type?post=67457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}