The historical victory of Geert Wilders of the PVV (Party for Freedom) in the Dutch General Elections of November 22nd was primarily linked to the theme of immigration. But let’s not forget that the PVV has also been a climate sceptic party for many years now. The party doesn’t want money-consuming climate plans (i.e. CO2 reduction). Here’s what the party manifesto says about climate change and climate policy:
“For decades now, we have been frightened by predictions of climate change doom. And although the projected disaster scenarios – about the world coming to an end – grew more extreme over the years, none of them ever become true.
We should stop being scared. The Netherlands is a smart country: we have the best water engineers in the world. Many years ago, our Delta Commissioner said we live in the safest delta in the world, we are well protected and there is no reason for panic.
The climate always changes and has been changing for centuries. When circumstances change, we adapt to them. We do that through sensible water management, by raising dikes when necessary and by giving rivers more space. But we should stop the hysterical reduction of CO2, an action we, a small country, wrongly think can ‘save’ the climate.
The Netherlands is responsible for less than half of a percent of the total global emission of CO2. In answer to questions of the PVV, the Minister (of Climate) admitted that his climate program with 122 measures, would only lead to a reduction of global warming by 0,000036 degrees. The amount of CO2 that The Netherlands avoids emitting with these measures, is compensated by the amount that China emits in less than one day. And the cost of all this is 28 billion euros! This has nothing to do with reality, it is all about climate ideology and delusions of grandeur.
And for this unaffordable insanity, we should change our entire way of living: our coal-fired power plants are being closed, while there are hundreds of them built in Asia as we speak. Our houses will no longer use natural gas, at the cost of tens of thousands of euros, while natural gas is the cleanest fossil fuel. Our country is being crammed with dismal wind turbines, while local residents literally get sick because of them. They want us to use heat pumps and electric cars, while our power grid – that used to be one of the most reliable in the world – can’t cope with demand. We must fly less, eat less meat; it never stops.
The PVV says: there is no way we are going to do that! The Climate Law, the Climate Agreement and all the other climate measures will go directly to the paper shredder. No more wasting of billions of euros for pointless climate hobbies, but more money for our people.
The energy bill has risen to record highs over the past few years. Many hundreds of thousands of people live in energy poverty. This year, the average energy bill will rise by many hundreds of euros. More than half of that is due to higher taxes! The Dutch energy tax on natural gas, is amongst the highest in all Europe. The Dutch are being squeezed. That’s why the PVV wants to lower the energy tax and VAT on energy.”
Five years ago, FvD (Forum for Democracy) won the local (Provincial) elections, with climate as an important theme. This year BBB (Farmer-Citizen Movement) won the Provincial Elections with their critical views on nitrogen. There are enough clues that lots of citizens have had enough of the unrelenting nagging about climate and nitrogen fertilizer, despite the massive media support of climate alarmism day after day.
There is no climate emergency
Clintel is a thinktank and is not connected to any political party. Nor have we had any involvement in party manifestos. That doesn’t mean we can’t largely agree with what the PVV has written in her party manifesto on climate and climate policy.
We state in our World Climate Declaration (now signed globally by more than 1850 scientists and experts, including two Nobel Prize winners) that there is no climate emergency, even if one acknowledges that CO2 has caused most of the warming since 1850. If there is no climate emergency, there is no need for panic in climate policy.
For years, we have been saying that the current climate policy is unfeasible and unaffordable, like Marcel Crok wrote in 2018 in the Dutch magazine Elsevier (article in Dutch). Back then, the number of 0,0003 degrees of reduction in global warming had already appeared, as a result of a 50% reduction of CO2 in The Netherlands.
The electorate has now also voted against unfeasible and unaffordable climate policies. So, it’s time for a government that stops overly ambitious climate policies. Better half-turned than completely gone astray. It’s also about time that the media adopts a more open attitude towards other views on the climate, like those of Clintel.
In his most passionate speech of the whole election campaign, Frans Timmermans (leader of the Labour Party) said, after the results were announced, that The Netherlands will abandon nobody. This advice should especially be applied to the parties on the left. They will have to become more understanding of other views on climate, on nitrogen, and on immigration. Only if they abandon their position of moral superiority will they have any chance of success in the future. Yet, in their speeches on November 22nd, there were no signs of this.
We knew that regarding climate policy “the shore will stop the ship” at some point. In ten years’ time, we might conclude that in The Netherlands, that point was November 22nd 2023.