On Tuesday 12 November 2024 the substantive hearing will take place in the case concerning the insufficient nitrogen-approach of the State of the Netherlands. Plaintiff in these proceedings is the Dutch branch of Greenpeace. She is demanding that the State drastically and quicky reduces nitrogen emissions on our must vulnerable nature in accordance with its obligations under the European Bird- and Habitats Directives. The main focus of the case on the deterioration-ban pursuant to Article 6 § 1 of the Habitats Directive. Leading ecologists have placed the most vulnerable nature on an 'urgency list', divided into a Red- and Orange List of natural habitats and the habitats of species for which the reduction in nitrogen deposition is most urgent/urgent respectively. At the very least, Greenpeace is demanding that the State meets its own statutory nitrogen targets for 2025 and 2030.
Andy Palmen, director of Greenpeace Netherlands: ‘We are in the highest phase of alarm for nature in the Netherlands, we are in danger of losing beautiful old oak forests, and vulnerable nature such as marshy peat areas are in danger of being irreparably damaged. Despite the urgency, the cabinet has swept almost all of the previous cabinet’s plans off the table and scrapped the money that was reserved to help farmers. In the meantime, the problems in nature and on the farm are stacking up, but the government is standing by and watching. We therefore have no choice but to go to court to save nature.”
You can read more about the case in the Greenpeace press release dated 10 November 2024 (available via this link; in Dutch).
Date: Tuesday 12 November 2024
Start: 09:30 (CET)
Court: District Court of The Hague
Address: Prins Clauslaan 60 in The Hague (2595 AJ)
The hearing is open to the public. In addition, the court will also open a live stream (audio: in Dutch) so that interested parties can also follow the hearing digitally. The link to this live stream can be found >> HERE <<
Greenpeace is assisted in this procedure by lawyers Bondine Kloostra and Brechtje Vossenberg of Prakken d'Oliveira Human Rights Lawyers. The District Court of The Hague already declared Greenpeace admissible in this procedure in an interlocutory verdict rendered on 6 March 2024. At the end of last year, the Dutch foundation Stichting Stikstofclaim was admitted to join these proceedings on the side of the State.
See further (in Dutch):
- Press release Greenpeace: ‘Greenpeace treft de Staat in de rechtbank om gebrekkige stikstofaanpak’ (10 November 2024)
- E. König, ‘Een nieuwe rechtszaak tegen het stikstofbeleid met potentieel grote gevolgen’ (NRC, 8 November 2024)
- Radio-interview, 'Stikstofrechtszaak Greenpeace gaat 12 november van start' (BNNVARA, 6 October 2024)
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