Farming ultimatum as the Netherlands grapples with cutting nitrogen emissions

The Netherlands are offering to buy out farms and industrial sites in a bid to drastically reduce nitrogen emissions amid farmer protests

MONUMENTAL measure in the Netherlands as the country races to cut ammonia and nitrous oxide emissions in line with EU rules. The Dutch government is offering to buy out between 2000 and 3000 polluting companies, mainly farms and industrial sites, or they risk forced closure next year.

The ‘peak polluters’ are being targeted by the government since their nitrous oxide and ammonia emissions rates are illegal by EU standards. The 2000-3000 farmers and industrialists will receive financial compensation worth more than 100 per cent of their properties for ceding them to the government.

Christianne van der Wal, Minister for Nitrogen, announced the measure on November 30, saying that the country would force businesses to close for the first time from next year if they do not comply with the scheme or stop their polluting actions.

The options for farms and factories include drastically cutting emissions, transitioning to use their sites for new purposes, relocating, or “voluntarily stopping”.

The move, which has caused outrage in the farming community, has been welcomed by environmentalists and the EU following a 2019 court ruling against the country’s nitrogen emissions, forcing action.

Comments


    • Naimah Yianni

      01 December 2022 • 16:51

      That´s right, make a load of rules that don´t make scientific sense and then force thousands of farmers out of business in a country whose main business is agriculture. of course we can all have a pat on the back for meeting the EU rules when there is no food to go round and people are rioting on the streets. It´s time these politicians took their heads out of their backsides and found workable solutions. The world isnt going to die in the next few years bcause 0f fertilizer use. There is so much scaremongering and misiniformation coming from the einvieronmentalsist and climate change fanatics that it´s ridiculous. perhaps some people have short memories, like Al Gore in the 1980s saying that Manhattan would be under water by the year 2000 because of rising sea levels. It´s just an agenda – Agenda 21 and Agenda 30, the so called sustainable development goals, but really they are goals for centalised control of everything we do, consume, or produce. Go and ask Klaus Schwabb

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