Dutch Court Issues Landmark Ruling Forcing Climate Change Action

The highest court in the Netherlands ordered the government to cut greenhouse gas emissions next year by at least 25% from benchmark 1990 levels, a landmark ruling that gives legal backing to the idea that climate change is a risk to human health.

The ruling Friday noted that global warming “could jeopardize food supply and cause the rise in sea level, among other things” and required immediate action. David Boyd, United Nations special rapporteur on human rights and the environment, called it “the most important climate change court decision in the world so far, confirming that human rights are jeopardized ...