In a Nutshell

• The Flanders region is the leader on CO₂ infrastructure development in Belgium, primarily focusing on CCUS. For its part, the Wallonia region has recently set out an ambition to become a key player in the transportation, distribution and utilisation of CO₂ to reach climate neutrality by 2050.
• Belgium is cooperating with several countries regarding CO₂ transport and storage, including with Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway.
• Flanders is developing several projects that directly or indirectly relate to CDR, including CO₂ infrastructure projects and the creation of a Flemish carbon market. Wallonia is focusing on land-based CDR methods, such as soil carbon sequestration. The Region of Brussels has so far shown limited support for CDR.
• The development of the Flemish carbon market is continuing.

Role for carbon removal in national climate policy

Belgium has developed a Long-Term Climate Strategy to set out how it plans to reach climate neutrality by 2050. It plans for a 95% emissions reductions compared to 1990 levels. The remaining 5% would be compensated by negative emissions, which include both LULUCF-based and engineered removals, such as bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) and direct air carbon capture and storage (DACCS). It is important to note that, following legal challenges between Flanders and the Federal Government, the regions now have exclusive competence over CO₂ networks.

At the regional level, Flanders is the leader in CO₂ infrastructure development in Belgium, primarily focusing on CCUS. It aims to create CO₂ clusters near its ports and industrial areas and to develop CO₂ transport infrastructure between these clusters. However, its long-term climate strategy sets a goal to move towards climate neutrality by 2050, corresponding to an 85% emission reduction in economic sectors outside the EU Emission Trading System (ETS). Carbon farming is seen as a way to provide a new source of income for farmers, who are feeling increasingly left out of the green transition in Flanders.

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Relevant legal frameworks

Belgium has yet to pass any climate law at the federal level. On 15 January 2024, the federal government adopted their climate governance law, which determined how the federal and regional levels were integrated into the latest Belgian NECP for the period of 2021-2030.

The Brussels region has set a carbon neutrality objective by 2050 in its climate law, corresponding to a 90% emissions reductions compared to 2005 emissions. In Wallonia, the 2050 climate neutrality target is enshrined in its climate decree, corresponding to 80% to 95% emissions reductions. The region of Flanders has not yet passed a climate law. It has, however, signalled that carbon neutrality could, in principle, be achieved with negative emissions coming from outside of Flanders.

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Support for R&D and Innovation

Flanders is involved in several projects that directly or indirectly relate to CDR. Around the port of Antwerp, two projects overlap. The Kairos@c project received a EUR 356 million grant through the Innovation Fund, to launch a full-scale cross-border CCS project, including CO₂ capture, liquefaction, shipping and storage in the North Sea. The Antwerp@c project received a EUR 144 million grant from the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) and will develop a CO₂ export hub to transport and store CO₂ in the Norwegian continental shelf. In the Ghent area, the Ghent Carbon Hub project got a EUR 9.6 million grant from the CEF to develop a CO₂ export terminal combined with a CO₂ pipeline network to Wallonia. The Moonshot project allocates EUR 20 million annually from 2020 to 2040 for pioneering technologies to decarbonise the industry, covering CCUS and biomass for energy research. The Coastal Carbon Project explores coastal enhanced weathering.

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On the horizon

The Flemish carbon market is advancing, with upcoming steps and input requests.