
The Netherlands on Wednesday announced its withdrawal from a recently- negotiated 52-nation deal on fossil fuels over climate change concerns.
The deal was initially signed in 1994 and included 52 nations from Central Asia and Europe. Its aim was to protect energy investments in volatile ex-Soviet countries.A compromise deal was struck in June to update the decades-old Energy Charter Treaty, which governed cross-border energy trading and investment.The European Union recently pressed for changes to the agreement to prohibit legal action from investors and businesses which could jeopardise bold climate targets.
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The compromise agreement, reached in June after two years of negotiations, establishes a 10-year phase-out period for protections on current investments and permits the exclusion of future fossil fuel investments from protections. It was set to come into force in November, pending any objections from the signatories.
Climate groups have criticised the update's flaws and warned that they would jeopardise efforts to slow global warming.
On Tuesday, Rob Jetten, the dutch environment and energy minister told the nation's parliament about the nation's withdrawal.
Talking to AFP, a spokesperson for his ministry said that "the minister indicated that the negotiated result cannot be reconciled with the Paris accord" on climate change.They further revealed that the official withdrawal date hasn't been set.
(With inputs from agencies)
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