After the corona year of 2020, Flemish greenhouse gas emissions shot up again: we emitted an estimated 72 megatons, compared to 69 megatons in 2020. That would mean an increase of 4 percent. In 2020, the Flemish Environment Agency had recorded a decrease of about 9 percent. The proportion of greenhouse gas emissions that are not covered by the emissions trading system (ETS), and that come from smaller companies, the transport sector, agriculture, waste processing and heating of buildings and homes, increased by about 6 percent. Flanders has its own climate policy that should reduce this proportion of gases.
Since 2005 we have emitted about 4.5 megatons less. This means that we are not on track to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2030, the deadline set by the European Commission. Provided a linear decrease, we should have produced 12 megatons less. This government is also not on the path of a 40 percent decline.
The provisional estimates are in line with the results of previous years, according to the cabinet of Environment Minister Zuhal Demir (N-VA). “This is not new, on the contrary: our minister has already raised this repeatedly. In the past, there has been too much focus on raising objectives and too little on taking concrete measures.”