PR | Zakia Khattabi's federal climate governance is achieving the first results

A year has passed since the terrible floods in Wallonia and this year we have experienced a period of extreme heat during which temperatures were reached which had never been recorded before in Belgium since 1892; it is in this particular context that today, September 2^nd, the Council of Ministers approved the first consolidated report on the monitoring of the federal climate policies 2021-2030. This document is the result of a year and a half of coordination, co-operation and dedication by competent ministers and public services to the development, application, monitoring and evaluation of its policies, as developed by Federal Climate Minister Zakia Khattabi.

This new climate governance system is a breakthrough in the structural reinforcement of climate policy at the federal level. Based on 39 roadmaps and ten focus areas (taxation and finance, energy, transportation and mobility, etc.), the process established by the minister will accompany the full implementation of the objectives stated in the coalition agreement, through the National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP) and in the Recovery and Resilience Plan by taking concrete action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to adapt to and respond to climate change. 

"From the outset of my term, I have always emphasized that, due to the cross-cutting nature of the climate challenges, every minister must also be a climate minister! 
Hence the necessity to involve  every ministers in this effort, so that each of them can do all they can within their scope of competences to reach the climate goals we have set together," Zakia Khattabi said.  

This first report shows that the majority of the measures announced in the road maps are currently being implemented. This is mostly done in accordance with the planned timetable. Occasionally, there are also delays or adjustments to the timeline due to different factors, including the evolution of the legislative context (national or international) or the availability of particular budgets, etc. This first round of monitoring progress also provides a fairly comprehensive, but non-exhaustive quantitative assessment of the impact of policies and measures on greenhouse gas emissions. 

"This synthesis report will also serve as a basis for dialogue with stakeholders during the 'climate tables' I am organizing in the autumn. I will then invite my colleagues in the federal government to develop new measures and to strengthen those already in place, in order to review the National Energy and Climate Plan by the summer of 2023." says Minister Khattabi.

"The effects of climate disruption are becoming more frequent and more intense; therefore it is essential that every government initiative be undertaken with climate neutrality in mind. In this regard, this governance framework is a necessary and solid tool for shaping federal policy. Nonetheless, it is merely a tool, an intermediate stage, the end of a cycle and the start of an administrative policy. Moving towards transition in a credible, structural and sustainable manner necessitates responding not only to climate disruption but also to biodiversity loss and its social consequences and resulting inequalities. More than ever before, this is a matter of both environmental and social justice ", she concludes.