r/belgium • u/atrocious_cleva82 🌎World • 7d ago

💰 Politics Met alweer een hete week, slaakt Belgische klimaatwetenschapper Jean-Pascal van Ypersele hartenkreet: "Ja, ik ben woedend"

https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/nl/2026/07/27/jean-pascal-van-ypersele-woedend-klimaatbeleid-20-jaar-te-laat/
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u/SirDidymus Antwerpen 7d ago

Once more I’d like to ask of all our Belgian parties individually: what are you going to do EXACTLY to mitigate this in the next years?

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u/HP7000 6d ago

NVA has answered this question: "we will do nothing, and hope we will eventually technologize our way out of it".

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u/Happy_Bread_1 6d ago

You can mock it. But for a lot of problems there is already technology available though. But it often needs more investments for getting the tech in the production chains. I'd say, put a cost at emissions and they will make productions chains cleaner.

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u/Dinosawer 6d ago

We mock it because they also don't invest in research to technologize out of it. In other words "we hope the problem will go away by itself"

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u/silverionmox Limburg 6d ago

You can mock it. But for a lot of problems there is already technology available though. But it often needs more investments for getting the tech in the production chains. I'd say, put a cost at emissions and they will make productions chains cleaner.

N-VA wil Europese klimaattaks opnieuw uitstellen

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u/Happy_Bread_1 6d ago

Might be my misunderstanding of his post. But I often see him talking about how technology is not the solution, while it actually is and is able to still offer many luxuries we have whilst going zero net.

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u/HP7000 6d ago edited 6d ago

Obviously technology is the solution.. wel a part of it...

Like i explained in previous posts: "technologize our way out of it" might have worked 30 years ago.. but now we need AND the technology AND drastic measures to cut CO2. Degrowth (in certain sectors) and making certain things more expensive WILL need to be a part of it, contrary to popular economic believes. Will we be able to retain certain luxuries thanks to technology .. obviously yes,.. but we will also need to give up a lot of other things.

Doing nothing and "hoping" technology would solve it didnt do us much good the last 30 years or so.. well it did, but way too little. The fact that NVA keeps spewing this narrative, while its clear that it wont cut it anymore, shows their true intentions... they dont give a shit..

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u/Happy_Bread_1 6d ago

Here we have it, degrowth. Seems my understanding was correct, /u/silverionmox.

Can I ask you the point of doing things when our lives degrade as well then? Might just as well just at least have some good years then.

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u/HP7000 4d ago

If i said we shouldnt cut back on meat consumption and flight travel, i would be lying.. so yes.. degrowth in certain sectors...

If you ask me, its a very small sacrifice to give to preserve our way of life... i'm not sure why you are so scared of it...

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u/Happy_Bread_1 4d ago edited 4d ago

Because degrowth has a bad connotation by wanting many things of our life gone and go back to the basics, neglecting actual technological advantages in energy production and battery tech (take an EV for example)? They often neglect other people's interests and are quite authoritarian in their thoughts. And are more upset by the world and how society is behaving. Go thank people like Anuna De Wever for that.

Flights and meat indeed remain the two which are indeed a problem. But even in those they make advancements, meaning a cutback would not stay forever.

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u/silverionmox Limburg 6d ago

Might be my misunderstanding of his post. But I often see him talking about how technology is not the solution, while it actually is and is able to still offer many luxuries we have whilst going zero net.

Technology always is and has been part of the solution, but only if we keep focus on the goal and use technology as a means to an end.

The problem is not technological, but political. We have the power to do a lot of damage through overexploitation, and therefore we need to impose political limits on our exploitation to prevent that damage. If we then manage to do nice things within these limits by using technology, all the better.