With the European Commission's climate ambitions in mind, Flanders has also drawn up the Local Energy and Climate Pact (LEKP) in recent years. One of its goals is to plant a tree for every Fleming by 2030. What specific actions are needed to achieve all the pact's various goals? We explained at the “Vakbeurs Openbare Ruimte” how sustainable foliage can be a first step.

What is the LEKP and why is it so important?

With the LEKP, or Local Energy and Climate Pact, Flanders wants to assume its responsibility for meeting European climate targets. It serves as a bridge between the promises from the EU and the concretisation, in practice, at the local level. As many as 293 of the 300 Flemish municipalities have signed the LEKP and are committed to help realise the four targets:

  1. Let's plant a tree (greenscape)
  2. Enrich your neighbourhood (renovation, renewable energy )
  3. Every neighbourhood shares (carbon-free ('shared') mobility) and is sustainably accessible
  4. Water, the new gold (drought issues )

The commitment of local governments is key to achieving climate goals. Citizen participation projects are a good application of this, such as our ongoing project ‘Bomen zijn cool’, supported by the Antwerp Climate Fund. That project runs in collaboration with the City of Antwerp and the University of Antwerp.

How can we achieve the Flemish (and European) objectives?

We currently face two stumbling blocks in our path towards the Flemish goals. First, there is an increasing need for (better) legal protection of trees. In addition, today we often limit ourselves to discussing the issues, but are not taking action fast enough.

To overcome these challenges, it is important to draw up tree and greenscape plans. In doing so, we need to focus on preserving the existing green space on the one hand and expanding greenery at the local level on the other. By strategically addressing this challenge, we can commit to strengthening green-blue networks where the value is more than the sum of the elements and we maximise the ecosystem service delivery of the entire network.

By mapping and preserving existing trees, we can better assess their value and ecosystem services. We have already done this with our tree portal and continue to work on this in projects such as ‘Bomen zijn cool’. However, greening the urban fabric requires a more structural step that best involves softening. By developing a softening study, softening can become part of local policy. In addition, such a study can change how urban development projects are completed. This will give trees and other plants the necessary underground structure allowing them to develop more naturally and create more space for greenery and a more natural water balance, with a direct positive effect on current water and drought problems.

In short, there are still many action points ahead of us before we can meet the climate goals of Flanders and Europe. Fortunately, in cooperation with (local) governments, we are already making great strides in this today.