Both ENDS

News / 17 September 2019

Both ENDS and the climate strike

On September 20 and 27 the global climate strike takes place. Both ENDS joins the Dutch Climate Strike on September 27 in The Hague. This is why.

The ecological, social and economical impact of climate change is huge. Land degradation, droughts and rising temperatures threaten global food security. Melting glaciers affect the water supply of large cities and extreme weather like heatwaves, heavy rainfall and storms damage people and their livelihoods.

Climate change is not only happening far away. Heatwaves also cause health problems in the Netherlands, farmers here are affected by changing precipitation patterns and the rising sea level is a serious threat for our country which is mainly lying below sea level.

Living up to the Paris Agreement

We are now approaching a "point of no return", in which the individual effects of climate change reinforce and accelerate each other. That is why Both ENDS advocates for Dutch governments, banks and companies to do everything possible to reduce global emissions.

Like almost all countries in the world, the Dutch government has signed the Paris climate agreement. By doing so, they have promised to do everything in their power to reduce Dutch emissions and limit global warming to 1.5 degrees. It is high time to comply with this agreement.

Public action is necessary

The first steps have been taken in the Netherlands with our own national climate agreement. But this agreement only looks at measures within our country. As long as the Dutch government keeps on stimulating deforestation through the unrestrained import of, for example, soy and palm oil, supporting the development of infrastructure for the fossil sector with export credit insurance for Dutch companies and concludes trade agreements that slow down the energy transition rather than accelerate it, the actions from the national climate agreement are just drops in the ocean.

That is why public action is needed now. Together with thousands of others from the climate movement, trade unions, school students, and other residents of the Netherlands, Both ENDS will strike on 27 September. This way we let our government know that there is no more time to waste and that it must take significant action in all policy areas to stop climate change.

More information on the Dutch Climate Strike can be found on www.klimaatstaking.nl

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