What does NRC | think? The heavy Dutch delegation at the climate summit in Dubai is a signal to a future cabinet

This year the outgoing cabinet is represented by a large delegation at COP28, the climate summit in Dubai. Prime Minister Mark Rutte (VVD) attended the official opening on Friday and met with various government leaders. Over the next week and a half, ministers Jetten (Climate and Energy, D66), Van der Wal (Nature and Nitrogen, VVD) and Kuipers (Public Health, D66) will also be in Dubai for a few days. And from the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management, both Minister Harbers (VVD) and State Secretary Heijnen (CDA) are traveling to the Emirates.

Climate change already has major consequences for all these ministries. Jetten must adjust the energy supply so that it no longer burdens the climate from 2050. It is a task that has been compared to the 1960s, when the whole of the Netherlands was overhauled to replace all coal stoves with gas fireplaces. But in a country where space is much scarcer and energy consumption is many times higher than it was then, the current challenges are correspondingly greater.

There is also a lot at stake for Van der Wal’s ministry in Dubai. Nature is having a hard time due to global warming – with drought, heat and forest fires in the Netherlands as the most visible risks. Moreover, Dutch agriculture is responsible for 14 percent of all Dutch greenhouse gases, the majority of which (70 percent) comes from livestock farming. These greenhouse gases are not easy to prevent, but they are necessary to become climate neutral. On Friday, more than 130 countries signed a declaration in Dubai on the need to make the global agricultural and food system more sustainable. This creates a great responsibility for the Netherlands, with its knowledge centers in this area.

Infrastructure and Water Management also face a difficult task. In a letter to Parliament, Harbers and Heijnen announced a year ago that the limits of the water and soil system have been reached. And that the Netherlands must prepare for more extreme precipitation patterns and rising sea levels. More than one billion euros per year is already being allocated to strengthening the dikes. That amount will have to increase significantly if the Netherlands does not want to get its feet wet and there must also be sufficient water from the tap in the summer.

Minister Kuipers can talk to colleagues in Dubai about how the number of heat-related deaths can be reduced. Last year there were Nature Medicine in Europe more than 60,000. But the relationship between public health and climate is not just about heat. According to the RIVM, the risk of allergies, infectious diseases, dangerous UV radiation, contaminated surface water and mosquitoes that transmit diseases and thrive at higher temperatures also increases.

Due to their outgoing status, the question is with what authority the ministers in Dubai can speak. In his speech, Rutte advocated “increasing our efforts to phase out fossil fuels.” He thus joined the chorus of government leaders with ambition. That is correct. But Rutte also knows that there are parties eager to govern that have little interest in the climate. The heavy Dutch government delegation in Dubai is therefore also an important signal to those at the PVV, but also at NSC and BBB, who think that the focus on climate could be a little less.

The cabinet could have gone a step further by also appointing Minister Adriaansens (Economic Affairs and Climate, VVD) – to make it clear that Dubai is about much more than preventing climate change. It took a while, but the VVD now also understands that the Netherlands is putting its international competitive position at risk with a weak climate policy. Subsidies for green startups, incentive policies to make clean steel, support for making the chemical sector more sustainable are no longer left-wing hobbies, but tough economic policies.

It would have been even better if State Secretary Van der Burg (Justice and Security, VVD) had also been added to the delegation. Climate change directly affects asylum and migration. For example, research has shown that years of extreme drought were one of the catalysts in the civil war in Syria, which led to an unprecedented flow of asylum. Helping poor countries to make them more resilient to climate change is high on the agenda in Dubai. Politicians in the Netherlands who want to abolish development aid should think carefully about this. If not out of solidarity with the most vulnerable, then at least to prevent new flows of refugees.

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