Dutch parliament votes to close down coal-fired power stations

Surprise vote will bring the country in line with targets set out by Paris climate change agreement

Is the sun setting on coal-fired power stations in the Netherlands? (iStock)

The Dutch parliament has voted to implement a 55 per cent cut in CO2 emissions by 2030, in a move which would necessitate the closure of all of the Netherlands’ coal-fired power stations.

The unexpected result in the vote last week is non-binding, however, the country’s Labour and Liberal parties have said they will both push for a rapid enforcement of the policy.

The vote, which calls for the country’s CO2 emissions to be cut by 55 per cent by 2030 compared to CO2 levels in 1990, was passed by 77 MPs to 72 against.

The move would bring the Netherlands firmly in line with the goals of the Paris Climate Change agreement, which has a long-term goal of cutting CO2 levels by 80-95 per cent by 2050.

The country saw greenhouse gas emissions rise by five per cent overall in 2015, compared to a year earlier.

Carbon monoxide levels were two per cent higher in 2015 than in 1990, largely due to an increase in coal-fired power generation.

The Dutch Liberal MP and vice president of the parliament, Stientje van Veldhoven, told the Guardian: “Closing down big coal plants – even if they were recently opened – is by far the most cost effective way to achieve the goals of the Paris agreement, and all countries will need to take such far-reaching measures. We cannot continue to use coal as the cheapest source of energy when it is the most expensive from a climate perspective.”

But the plans may meet resistance from the country’s economics minister, Henk Kamp, of the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), who has previously spoken against the closure of coal-fired power stations.

“They are the cleanest [coal fired power stations] in Europe. We’d be crazy if we shut them,” he said.

In June 2015, a court ordered the Dutch coalition government to implement a raft of measures to reduce greenhouse gases after ruling the country was not meeting its Kyoto goal of reducing emissions by 25 per cent from 1990 levels by 2020.

The vote follows an announcement last month that the Netherlands is also looking at the possibility of banning the sale of petrol and diesel fuelled cars by 2025.