Between the Dutch government’s shifting focus to underground CO2 storage and raising the limit on CO2 that may be stored with government money — environmental organizations are outraged.
📢 When: The outgoing Dutch government allocated additional money in support of underground CO2 storage which was announced in the Budget Memorandum released yesterday.
👀 How: The policy includes raising the agreed ceiling on the amount of CO2 that can be stored underground. Companies’ CO2 emissions are captured and stored under the North Sea instead of being released into the atmosphere.
😬 Why: Environmentalists’ concern is that CO2 releasing companies who are allowed to store large quantities of CO2 underground will be less inclined to shift their production methods into sustainable systems.
According to environmental organization Natuur en Milieu, the government “has succumbed to the fossil fuels lobby.” They call the new plans incomprehensible, unnecessary, and in direct conflict with the agreements made in the Climate Accords.
Greenpeace and The Dutch Association for Sustainable Energy (NVDE) share the concern regarding the government’s decision to raise the limit from the previously agreed on 7.2 megatons by 2.5 Mton.
Counter points
Not everyone is in agreement with the environmental organizations’ concerns it seems — According to State Secretary Dilan Yesilgöz of Economic Affairs and Climate, CO2 underground storage should be looked at as a quick and cost-efficient way to reduce CO2 emission.
Chairman of the Climate Accords progress Ed Nijpels believes it’s too early for concerns as he stresses that more information will follow from the government in the following days.
As Nijpels sees these issues, even though more money was allocated in support of underground CO2 storage, the ratio of the companies’ subsidies between sustainability measures will not change.
What do you think of the latest climate budget updates in the Netherlands? Tell us in the comments below!
Feature Image: Vitaly.R/Depositphotos
Carbon dioxide is essential to life on Earth, without it photosynthesis can not take place. So why in the world do all the “Climate Change Clowns” and Saint Greta Thunberg want to cut back on it? Maybe it’s because they hate humanity and want to assuage the guilt they feel for being human by destroying life. Too cowardly to simply end their own life, “climate change” advocates want the rest of us to follow them lemming like over the cliff into the valley of Death!
Humanity can not survive without CO2 … and if the thought of No Plants isn’t enough to concern you, no carbon dioxide also means no Coca-Cola or Red Bull!