Environmental issues played just a minor part of the coverage of the 2012 Dutch elections, with references banished to the final pages, according to Richard Tol, a climate-economics professor in a leading newspaper. Tol observed that several pieces by politicians treated climate and environment as one topic and showed little interest in local environmental problems where active policies can make a difference. Parties instead focus mainly on climate policies, which are to a large degree dictated by the EU, he added.The ruling Liberals and Social Democrats spoke of climate policy, he said, while others focused on waste, raw materials and asbestos.The Christian Democrats aimed to "curb climate change below 2%", whereas the real issue is about degrees of temperature rise. Populists deny human causes to climate change and call for an end to the renewables and energy-efficiency programme.
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