The sea level could rise much more than projected off the Dutch coast, up to two meters by 2100, the Meteorological Institute of the Netherlands, a country vulnerable to rising water levels, warned today.

“Forecasts show a sea level rise more significant than in the past,” the Dutch Meteorological Institute (KNMI) said in a report, just days before COP26 began operations in Scotland.

With almost a third of its land below sea level, the Netherlands is particularly vulnerable to climate change, but also one of the largest polluters per capita in Europe.

“If we do not reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the sea level off the Dutch coast could rise by 1,2 meters by 2100 compared to the beginning of the century” and two meters if the melting of ice cover at the South Pole accelerate, the KNMI added.

For the first time, the 2-meter limit is not ruled out, according to the Dutch Water Authority, which, like Germany and Belgium, was hit by floods in July.

“The days when we could control water, land and soil as we wished are long gone,” said Roger van de Sante, president of the Office, a government agency responsible for water management.

“Dramatic options are needed in spatial planning in the Netherlands” to reduce the effects of climate change, which should be the number one priority for the government, he said.

The KNMI report is based on the latest GIEC report (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – August 2021) and its own studies.