Threat of Rising Sea Levels Drives the Netherland’s Climate Policy

Threat of Rising Sea Levels Drives the Netherland’s Climate Policy
Police and military personnel lay sandbags to strengthen a dike, Woltersum, Netherlands, Jan. 6, 2012 (AP photo).

Editor’s note: This article is part of an ongoing WPR series on countries’ risk exposure, contribution and response to climate change.

The Dutch parliament voted last week to cut the Netherland’s greenhouse gas emissions by 55 percent by 2030, a move that requires closing the country’s five remaining coal-fired power plants. In an email interview, Pier Vellinga, a professor at the University of Wageningen, discusses the Netherland’s climate change policy.

WPR: What is the Netherlands’ risk exposure to climate change, what effects of climate change are already apparent, and what sorts of adaptation approaches will it have to adopt or develop?

Keep reading for free!

Get instant access to the rest of this article by submitting your email address below. You'll also get access to three articles of your choice each month and our free newsletter:

Or, Subscribe now to get full access.

Already a subscriber? Log in here .

What you’ll get with an All-Access subscription to World Politics Review:

A WPR subscription is like no other resource — it’s like having a personal curator and expert analyst of global affairs news. Subscribe now, and you’ll get:

  • Immediate and instant access to the full searchable library of tens of thousands of articles.
  • Daily articles with original analysis, written by leading topic experts, delivered to you every weekday.
  • Regular in-depth articles with deep dives into important issues and countries.
  • The Daily Review email, with our take on the day’s most important news, the latest WPR analysis, what’s on our radar, and more.
  • The Weekly Review email, with quick summaries of the week’s most important coverage, and what’s to come.
  • Completely ad-free reading.

And all of this is available to you when you subscribe today.

More World Politics Review