Dutch constitution will be amended to ban LGBTQ+ discrimination
Following the Dutch Senate’s vote passing the proposal in a 56–15 vote, it now only needs to be signed by King Willem-Alexander and the responsible minister before becoming law.
The Netherlands
World’s first solar car goes into production
The Dutch company Lightyear officially commenced assembly of its first vehicle, aptly titled ‘Lightyear 0’, becoming the first automotive firm to manufacture an electric vehicle that generates a realistic amount of charge via sunlight.
The Ocean Cleanup removes first 100,000kg of plastic from Great Pacific Garbage Patch
Since deployment in August 2021, System 002 (or “Jenny”) has now collected 101,353 kg of plastic over 45 extractions, sweeping an area of over 3000km2 – comparable to the size of Rhode Island.
The Netherlands bans exotic mammalian pets
The government will present a list of mammals allowed as pets and hobby animals. All other mammals are banned.
In world first, The Netherlands caps flights at major airport to cut pollution
The new policy, set to take effect at the end of 2023, is the world’s first to limit flights for environmental reasons.
Dutch bank ING ends financing for new oil and gas projects
The bank has also said it will target a 50% increase in lending for renewable energy by 2025, building on strong growth in 2021, when financing grew 26% to 7.3 billion euros.
All new Jeep, Chrysler, Ram products will be electric from 2026
Stellantis’ forward plan advances carbon-neutral manufacturing and the “cradle-to-cradle” business model to Reduce tailpipe emissions. The plan calls for a 50% carbon emissions reduction by 2030, with a carbon net-zero target of 2038.
European supermarkets discontinue selling Brazilian beef to protect the Amazon
Sainsbury’s in the U.K., Lidl in the Netherlands, and the Dutch retailer Alhold Delhaize were among the companies saying they would move away from stocking Brazilian beef.
IKEA to phase out plastic packaging by 2028
The shift will happen progressively over the coming years, and mainly be focusing on paper as it is both recyclable, renewable, and widely recycled across the world.
Assisted dying is rapidly becoming legal and accepted – currently in 11 countries and 10 U.S. states
Since 2015, Belgium, Luxembourg, Canada, New Zealand, Spain, the Netherlands, Colombia, Germany, Austria, Portugal, five Australian states, ten American states, and D.C. have legalized assisted dying.