Wallonia’s parliament passes key climate-change draft

The draft resolution, tabled by Philippe Henry, a legislator from the Ecolo Party in the regional parliament, and co-signed by the Socialist Party (PS), as well as the Reformist Movement (MR) and Humanist Democratic Centre (CdH) party, was approved unanimously, Ecolo noted in a press release on Wednesday

In their draft resolution, the legislators found that after the “lack of ambition shown at the 24^th Conference of Parties (COP24)” to the UN Conference on Climate Change in Katowice, Poland, Belgium needs to join other European countries that want higher European targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The resolution calls on Wallonia’s Government to “take three clear requests to the Belgian inter-federal consultation” so that “our country may finally demonstrate that it measures up to the climate issue”.

For one, the parliamentarians want Belgium to join the coalition of countries calling for European emission-reduction targets to be raised to 55% of 1990 levels by the year 2030, and to 95% by 2050.

The resolution also calls on the regional government itself to pursue the fight for a similar increase at the EU.

It further wants the National Energy Climate Plan 2030 and regional energy climate plans to have a trajectory and measures that are compliant with the emission-reduction targets.

It’s essential “to reposition climate issues and priorities at the centre of the game and to adopt coherent, concrete measures to that effect at all levels of power,” Ecolo’s Philippe Henry said.

Jason Bennett
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