Belgium sanctioned by the courts for insufficient climate action

2023-12-01 19:36:35
Cars in a traffic jam on one of the main roads in central Brussels, December 15, 2022. YVES HERMAN/REUTERS

It is a coincidence of the calendar but it is particularly unfortunate: while the 28th world climate conference (COP28) opened in Dubai, Thursday November 30, the Belgian justice system condemned the federal state and two of the three regions of the country (Flanders and Brussels-Capital) for the insufficiency of their action in the climate field. Also sued by environmental defense organizations and 58,000 citizens, Wallonia, the third region of the kingdom, escapes sanction, the Brussels Court of Appeal considering that its climate plan enabled it to achieve the objective that it had set itself in 2020 for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

This was, however, not the case for other levels of power, note the appeal magistrates, who partly confirmed a judgment given at first instance, in 2021. At the time, the criminal court of Brussels judged that the State and its regions were not doing enough to protect the population from the effects of climate change, but it refused to impose more restrictive measures or penalties. The plaintiffs demanded a 61% reduction in emissions by 2030, but the judges ruled that it was not up to the judiciary to impose such a measure.

The court of appeal evokes the existence of “mistakes” and enjoins the various powers to take the necessary measures to achieve the objectives, i.e. at least a 55% reduction in 2030 compared to 1990 – as decided by the European Union. In 2021, the overall reduction reached 24% in Belgium and the trajectory is threatened by the fact that the different levels of power cannot agree on a “national energy climate plan”. The three regions and the federal state disagree on sharing the effort to achieve the goal set for 2030.

However, the court of appeal underlines that, without such an agreement, the country will remain behind and will infringe on the right of every person to life, a principle set out in particular by the European Convention on Human Rights. Belgium is, after the Netherlands, the second country in the world where judges explicitly impose compliance with climate objectives.

Differences between governments

At this stage, however, the magistrates are not ordering the penalties requested by the plaintiffs – 1 million euros per month for delay in executing the judgment – ​​pending a detailed report, region by region. , on emissions for the period 2020-2024.

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