EIB: Majority pessimism about Dutch climate aspirations

Most Dutch people expect the current climate plans to be very ambitious. They do not expect the Netherlands to drastically reduce CO2 emissions before 2050. The European Investment Bank (EIB)’s annual climate survey questioned thousands of Dutch people.

Six out of ten Dutch people think they are more concerned about the climate than the government. Els Sweeney-Pindles, head of the Amsterdam EIB office, said “the Dutch believe the government needs to do more. According to him, the new Dutch government may now have the” legitimacy “to take more climate action.

Nearly half of respondents believe the government is currently doing too little to combat climate change. Also, one-third think it is difficult to change their habits. In addition, 13 percent of Dutch people do not believe in climate change or that it is affected by human activities.

The UN Climate Commission IPCC said earlier this year that global warming could reach 1.5 degrees Celsius in the next two decades unless drastic measures are taken to control greenhouse gas emissions. The authors of the report concluded that humanity is undeniably responsible for global warming.

Nearly 60 percent of Dutch people say they notice the impact of climate change on their daily lives. That percentage is significantly higher among Europeans at 77 percent. Among Dutch youth, the percentage of people who notice the impact of climate change is higher than the elderly.

At 62 per cent, Dutch people are more skeptical of their country’s ambitions than those living in other countries. Half the Americans think the United States will meet the climate goals they set for 2050. According to the EIB survey, confidence in its own government is high in China. 93% of Chinese think their country can significantly reduce emissions by 2050.

Half of the Dutch think their country should make more use of renewable energy. At 63 percent, this sentiment is most widely supported among Europeans. The Dutch (21 percent) are also more positive about nuclear power than other Europeans (12 percent).