The case was brought by Greenpeace, which said the government was not doing enough to lower illegally high levels of nitrogen oxide emissions caused by intensive farming and heavy use of fertilizers, as well as traffic and construction in the densely-populated Netherlands.

The court in The Hague said the government had clearly failed to comply with European regulations to preserve vulnerable nature reserves and cut excessive emissions of nitrogen oxides and ammonia, which hurt biodiversity and damage the quality of water.

It ordered the government to meet its target of reducing the emissions to legally allowed levels in 50 per cent of all affected nature reserves by 2030, and ruled that it should be fined 10 million euros (C$15 million) if the goal was not met – a sum unlikely on its own to provide a major impetus for change.

Agriculture minister Femke Wiersma said she was disappointed by the court ruling and was considering an appeal.

“We take the nitrogen problem very seriously,” she said in a post on X. “But we can’t ask the impossible of people and companies.”

The problem is seen as a potential stumbling block for the already fragile government coalition, which includes far right leader Geert Wilders’ Freedom Party and a farmers party that was created to protest against nitrogen measures.

The nitrogen problem has plagued the Netherlands for years following rulings in 2018 by the European Court of Justice and in 2019 by the Netherlands’ Council of State that Dutch policies were failing to address it.

Efforts to reduce emissions by buying out livestock farmers triggered large protests, while courts have routinely blocked major construction projects until the problem is solved.

The country’s previous government in 2022 laid out targets for reducing nitrogen pollution in some areas by up to 70 per cent by 2030, but policies to reach that goal have largely been scrapped by the current government as farmers argued they were poorly conceived and unfair.

“Measures were already largely insufficient to reach the 2030 goal and there is no improvement in sight,” the court said, adding that the government’s lack of action was unlawful.

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“Ambitious action to reduce nitrous oxide emissions could move the world closer to meeting a wide range of global climate, ozone and other environmental and human health goals,” said the assessment, published by the Climate and Clean Air Coalition of over 180 governments, NGOs, and international organizations.

Nitrous oxide is the third most prevalent greenhouse gas and the worst ozone-depleting gas. Emissions, driven primarily by the agricultural use of synthetic fertilizers and manure, have increased globally by 40 per cent since 1980, and are on pace to rise 30 per cent over 2020 levels by 2050, the report said.

The Global Nitrous Oxide Assessment (N2O) report is similar to the 2021 Global Methane Assessment, which showed that human-caused methane emissions can be reduced by up to 45 per cent this decade and laid the groundwork for 150 countries to commit to the Global Methane Pledge to curb those emissions by 30 per cent by 2030.

Taking global action to reduce emissions of nitrous oxide (N2O) could avoid the equivalent of up to 235 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions by 2100, it said.

A U.S. State Department official told Reuters earlier this year that slashing N2O emissions from production of fertilizers or the production of materials like nylon is cheap, costing as little as $10 per metric ton (C$13.90) through projects using the voluntary carbon offset market.

The U.S and China are the biggest emitters of the greenhouse gas.

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