Dutch Government Wants All New Cars to be Emissions-Free by 2030

On Tuesday, the fractured Dutch government announced a coalition of several leading parties and put forward a roadmap for the Netherlands' future. Besides reaffirming the country's support of the EU and offering tax and immigration plans, the coalition said that it wanted all new cars to be zero-emissions vehicles by 2030. The coalition also called for more aggressive emissions goals in general—specifically, a 49-percent reduction in the country's CO2 emissions compared to 1990 levels by 2030, according to EU Observer, quoted by archtechnika.com

The Netherlands is hardly the first country to float a fossil-fuel-burning vehicle ban. France has said it wants to ban the sale of gas and diesel vehicles by 2040, and China and the UK have followed suit (although China has not yet articulated a timeline for its ban). California's governor has also floated the idea of a zero-emissions mandate for cars sold in the state.

The Netherlands, like France, also called for the closure of all coal plants within the country by 2030 and for increased use of carbon capture and storage (CCS) to help the country reach its 49-percent CO2 reductions goals.

But achieving those numbers may be more difficult for the Netherlands than for other EU nations. In a 2014 overview of the country's energy mix, the International Energy Agency wrotethat the Netherlands "remains one of the most fossil-fuel- and CO2-intensive economies among IEA member countries." According to EU Observer, think tank CE Delft recently came to the conclusion it was "highly unlikely" that the Netherlands would be able to reach a 25-percent reduction in CO2 compared to 1990s levels by 2020. Germany, one of the European countries with the most aggressive emissions-reductions programs, reportedearlier this...