Politics Ruling: Netherlands must protect Caribbean island from climate change
The Netherlands has suffered a serious setback in a climate change case. According to the ruling, the state has not sufficiently protected the inhabitants of its Caribbean island of Bonaire from the consequences of climate change.
28.01.2026, 16:15
28.01.2026, 16:26
SDA
The judges in The Hague thus upheld a complaint by the environmental organization Greenpeace. The organization had sued the state on behalf of the island's inhabitants and demanded climate protection for the island.
According to the ruling, the Netherlands must now take adequate measures to protect the Caribbean island and its inhabitants by 2030. According to experts, this could cost a lot of money.
State must protect citizens
The judges expressly referred to a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights in 2024 that a state is obliged to protect the life and health of its citizens. The Netherlands had not done so and had therefore also violated the ban on discrimination. According to the ruling, the inhabitants of Bonaire had been treated differently to the Dutch on the European mainland.
Bonaire is part of the Netherlands Antilles in the Caribbean and is a special municipality of the Netherlands. The island has around 25,000 inhabitants.
Coral reefs are dying
The judges pointed out that the consequences of climate change for small islands like Bonaire have been known for 30 years. Sea levels are rising, threatening fishing, agriculture and nature. Coral reefs are dying, tourism is declining and poverty is increasing due to the increasing heat.
In the lawsuit, Greenpeace had also demanded that the Netherlands be obliged to set stricter climate protection targets. The court rejected this. However, the Netherlands was obliged to do more to reduce emissions of climate-damaging greenhouse gases.
Previous climate rulings
This is not the first defeat for the Dutch government in a climate lawsuit. In 2018, the Court of Appeal ruled in favour of the environmental organization Urgenda and obliged the country to reduce its CO2 emissions by at least a quarter by 2020.
