The government is making climate policy with a short-term view, according to a major scientific advisory council. As a result, companies and citizens are afraid to take risks, and society comes to a standstill. “This is not the climate policy that helps the Dutch people.”
The climate goals for 2030 and beyond are increasingly out of sight, but the government is mainly focused on the here and now. While the climate problem requires structural policy and stability, not volatility.
That is the main message from the Scientific Climate Council (WKR) in an advice to the outgoing cabinet and parliament on Tuesday. The Climate Council advises the government on how society can become climate neutral and climate resilient.
A long-term vision in the area of climate is becoming increasingly important, the scientists say. Then citizens and companies will know where they stand, rather than when policies fluctuate every few years, and measures are introduced and then postponed or even scrapped. That doesn’t help the Dutch, says the WKR.
Take the net metering scheme, or the mandatory hybrid heat pump. Both measures have been scrapped again. This ensures that people think twice before purchasing a heat pump or solar panels, because it is not certain what a next cabinet will think. While both are important in the energy transition for households.
Other examples are the CO2 levy for industry, which the cabinet wants to get rid of, and the tailor-made agreements with industry that are slow to get off the ground. Policy is swaying back and forth, and that doesn’t help society, according to the WKR. Especially not if no alternative is offered, warns the Climate Council.
Looking ahead a hundred years with a ‘climate vision’
The Climate Council therefore advises the cabinet to draw up a ‘climate vision’, together with citizens and the House of Representatives. This allows the government to look ahead at least 25 years, and preferably 100 years. This lifts an existential problem such as climate change over a four-year (or shorter) government period.
Why this advice now, while the cabinet is outgoing? “We see a clear call from society. Existing files such as agriculture are stalling and the cabinet is not outlining a future perspective on how to proceed,” explains administrative scientist Wieke Pot. She was at the helm of the scientific advice. Such a long-term vision can offer society clarity and therefore perspective.
A climate vision can also ensure that the legally established climate goals do not come under further pressure, Pot thinks. A majority of society wants the government to take action. “The climate continues to change, taking action has become inevitable,” she says.
According to her, the national Delta Program is the prime example of government policy with a long-term vision. In the field of water, a long-term view has been taken for much longer, even until 2100. According to the WKR, such opportunities also exist for climate policy. “Climate affects everything: health, space, energy, agriculture,” says Pot. “That requires a long-term commitment.”