AMSTERDAM (Reuters) -The highest court in the Netherlands on Wednesday said a major carbon capture project in the Rotterdam port area does not meet European environmental guidelines and said it needed more time to decide whether the project should be halted.
Environmental activists had demanded that permits for the “Porthos” project would be revoked, as they claimed effects of construction on a nearby nature reserve had not been taken into account properly when the permits were given.
In what could become a major setback for the Dutch government’s climate goals and possibly other major construction projects, the Council of State said environmental NGOs would get six weeks to comment on a report on the nitrogen emissions caused by construction of the project.
The court will then decide whether the permits for the “Porthos” project, developed by a consortium that includes Royal Dutch Shell, Exxon Mobil, Air Liquide and Air Products, have to be scrapped or not.
Once operational, Porthos would reduce emissions in the Netherlands by 2.5 megatonnes per year, or roughly 2% of the total, over a period of 15 years, according to the consortium’s estimates.
The project was awarded up to 2.1 billion euros ($2.08 billion) in subsidies last year, nearly half of the 2021 annual budget for sustainable projects.
The Netherlands emitted 141.5 megatonnes of CO2 in 2021, a drop of 23.9% from 1990 levels and climate policy advisers have repeatedly said current plans are not enough to meet the government’s target of a reduction of 55% by 2030.
(Reporting by Bart Meijer, Anthony Deutsch and Stephanie van den Berg, Editing by Louise Heavens)
Disclaimer: This report is auto generated from the Reuters news service. ThePrint holds no responsibilty for its content.
Source: The Print
