The coalition agreement of PVV, VVD, NSC and BBB has already been assessed for its unpracticability and for violating the rule of law. But it has not yet been ‘celebrated’ as a victory of Dutch (fossil) industries over much-needed climate ambitions. Led by former Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende and VNO-NCW forewoman Ingrid Thijssen, major Dutch polluters like KLM, Shell, DSM, AKZO Nobel and Friesland Campina made an appeal to political parties during the formation period: maintain the climate fund – read: billions in subsidies paid by citizens – and stop further regulation of industry.
And yes: big business got what it wanted. The coalition agreement keeps the climate fund; promises that Dutch regulations will not be stricter than those of the EU; wants to increase gas production in the North Sea; supports hydrogen production based on natural gas; reverses a CO2 tax; and postpones the abolition of 40 billion in fossil subsidies. As icing on the cake, Balkenende’s ‘Sustainable Growth Coalition’ now even gets their own Ministry for Climate and Green Growth.
This victory fits into a long series of attempts to undermine Dutch climate policy. Each of the three big waves of attention to climate change was followed by a wave of wanton obstruction – with a dubious leading role for employers’ association VNO-NCW. Logical, then, that Extinction Rebellion NL, after successfully putting fossil subsidies on the agenda, is now aiming its arrows at a climate retardant that wants to keep these subsidies in place for a long time to come.
See the opinion piece in NRC I wrote with Martijn Duineveld for thirty years of obstruction efforts of Dutch employers organization VNO-NCW. For the full story of climate obstruction in the Netherlands see our chapter in the Climate obstruction accross Europe (Oxford University Press).