During the 2010s, activists asserted that the government started to favor more traditional fossil fuel industries over renewables, and the country began lagging in its commitment to reducing climate change.

[4] The letter not only referred to recent reports like the IPCC assessment, but also implored that the Dutch government had a duty to reduce emissions to protect human rights under EU policy.

[8] Urgenda's complaint asserted that the government was responsible for managing all carbon dioxide emissions from the country and it was duty-bound by their laws to reduce the nation's contribution to climate change.

[4] The District Court ruled in June 2015 in favor of Urgenda, and required the Netherlands government must achieve 25% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions from 1990 levels by 2020.

"[10] The ruling asserted that the Dutch government was legally bound to reduce emissions to protect human life, and that the costs associated with a 25% reduction were not unreasonably high.

The court did express concern about respecting the legislative process, and set the requirement to 25%, the minimum that IPCC and other reports estimated was possible for developed countries that was necessary to prevent dangerous climate change.

The state argued that the District Court's orders exceeded the trias politica, the Dutch's separation of powers, by creating environmental policy through its rulings.

[14] In its ruling, the Supreme Court affirmed that the Dutch government was responsible for management of carbon dioxide emissions for the country and was bound to protect human rights.

[18] Even with enacted changes, the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency reported in January 2019 that they projected that carbon dioxide emissions reductions would reach between 19 and 26% from 1990 by the end of 2020, leaving the state in need of more steps to assure the target is met.

[10] The ruling on the Netherlands case led to similar climate justice lawsuits in other countries, including Belgium, France, Ireland, Germany, New Zealand, Britain, Switzerland and Norway.