Marjan Minnesma, Urgenda climate leader, dies at 59
newsMay 23, 202619462
Marjan Minnesma, director of Dutch climate NGO Urgenda, died Friday at age 59. She led the 2015 Urgenda lawsuit that compelled the Netherlands to cut greenhouse gas emissions at least 25 percent by 2020 compared with 1990 levels, a ruling the Dutch Supreme Court upheld in 2019. Those court victories created a legal precedent used worldwide to hold governments legally accountable for climate policy and accelerated Dutch energy transition decisions. Minnesma had recently given extended interviews reflecting on her life and work, leaving a record of her strategy and impact.
