Dutch court orders government to meet pollution reduction targets or face millions in fines

abcnews.go.com:

A Dutch court has ordered the country’s government to meet its own goals to reduce overall nitrogen emissions by 2030

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — A Dutch court on Wednesday ordered the country’s government to meet its own goals for reducing overall nitrogen emissions by 2030, a decision that could have major economic and political consequences.

The District Court of The Hague criticized the government’s lack of plans to address the pollution crisis and said that within five years, half the country's protected nature areas must no longer be threatened by nitrogen pollution from agriculture, construction and other sources.

In September, the ruling Dutch coalition, dominated by the far-right Party for Freedom, scrapped an agreement negotiated by the previous government. The current government has been unable to agree on a replacement plan.

“The current government has not yet announced any policy based on which it can be assumed with any scientific certainty that, if implemented, the statutory nitrogen target for 2030 will be achieved,” Judge Jerzy Luiten said.

Last week, Prime Minister Dick Schoof announced he would establish a ministerial committee to come up with solutions.

“It’s definitely a victory after decades of inactions. I think this verdict shows that the plans of previous cabinets are inadequate, and now they absolutely have to come up with a plan,” Hilde Anna de Vries of Greenpeace told reporters after the court hearing.

If the government fails to meet the target, it must pay a 10 million euro ($10.4 million) fine to Greenpeace.

Pro-farmer lobbying organization LTO called for the government to appeal.

“The measures needed to achieve the nitrogen targets for 2030 will have an unprecedented impact on the