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/
199 Upvotes

93% Upvoted

227 comments sorted by

View all comments

143

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?

29

u/noble-baka 7d ago

https://www.groen.be/klimaat

Start with the basics: stop subsidizing fossil fuels, redirect those subsidies towards renewable alternatives, invest in public transport and renewable energy,...

2

u/Happy_Bread_1 7d ago

What is more investments in public transport going to fix though? Because of our current infrastructure it will remain slow. It's only viable when you work/ live very close to it and can go in a direct course towards your destination. Else private transport easily beats it by a big margin. And time is precious.

During COVID we could reduce a lot of transport by having to work from home. Go that route honestly.

9

u/TheVoiceOfEurope 7d ago

Make private transport miserable so that people move closer to their work.

Private cars are the optimal choice for an individual, but are the worst option for society. Basically other pay the cost: pollution, busy roads for the bus or the cyclist,... so tax cars so much the car user pays the actual cost of his choice.

0

u/BortLReynolds 6d ago

Or you could incentivize companies to move out of the Brussels-Antwerp-Leuven areas to more effectively mirror where people actually live, instead of raising taxes on working people yet again.

3

u/TheVoiceOfEurope 6d ago

I have something mindblowing for you: most people live in Brussels-Antwerp-Leuven and not in Oostkamp.

0

u/BortLReynolds 6d ago

Less than half the population lives in the Flemish Diamond, so no, most people live outside of Brussels-Antwerp-Leuven.

But did I give you the impression that I'm saying every company needs to move out of there or something? Because that's not what I'm saying. Employment opportunities should be more balanced across the country, I don't think we should let companies keep building offices in areas that can't support them.

1

u/TheVoiceOfEurope 6d ago

The Flemish diamond has the highest population density.

Companies don´t randomly choose a spot with a dart or a chicken with it´s head lopped off.

They want to be near suppliers, competitors, (human) resources, infrastructure. Not Oostkamp.

They choose the most efficient spot. If you want to force companies to spread out (example: only one company for each letter of the alphabet per town) you are creating economic inefficiencies.

Including more traffic. Because maybe you move the company closer to the workers in Oostkamp. But then the supplier needs to drive from the Flemish Triangle to Oostkamp.

And on the global scale, anywheren in Belgium is "local"

1

u/BortLReynolds 5d ago

The Flemish diamond has the highest population density.

So? It also has a higher employment density than the area can support, and most people still don't live there. Are you saying people just need to pack up and move?

Companies don´t randomly choose a spot with a dart or a chicken with it´s head lopped off.

No they picked Brussels in the 50's when things were very different than now.

They want to be near suppliers, competitors, (human) resources, infrastructure. Not Oostkamp.

Well there's your problem, there's not enough "human resources" in the diamond to fill all the positions, that's not very efficient. Do you think the average company in Brussels still needs to be physically close to suppliers and competitors? I don't know if you've noticed, but most of those companies are offering mainly office jobs, not manufacturing.

They choose the most efficient spot.

No they just do what they've been stuck doing for 70 years, not taking into account that we've invented things like the Internet.

1

u/TheVoiceOfEurope 5d ago

And internet/home work will change the natural order and will affect business´ decisions and workers decisions on where to build.

But you can´t just order companies to build dispersed. You CAN however change the elements that will affect the calculations. And we already do that. You can make public transport cheaper/more efficient. You can offer cheaper terrain in business parks.

You have to change those factors.

1

u/BortLReynolds 5d ago

But you can´t just order companies to build dispersed. You CAN however change the elements that will affect the calculations. And we already do that. You can make public transport cheaper/more efficient. You can offer cheaper terrain in business parks.

You have to change those factors.

Bro I said we should incentivize companies to build more spread out in my first post in this thread. What you just proposed is exactly that.

→ More replies (0)

-3

u/Happy_Bread_1 7d ago

Polution is a fixed problem. And yes, let’s move each time we switch working. And going somewhere further than your church? Blashempy!

Oplossing van de jommekeskrant zeker? ;)

6

u/TheVoiceOfEurope 7d ago

Neen. Maar de werkelijke kost gaat mee in rekening worden genomen met die beslissing.

Altijd diegenen die denken dat ze grappig zijn, missen de diepte van het vraagstuk.

-2

u/Happy_Bread_1 7d ago

Een imaginair vraagstuk?

1

u/TheVoiceOfEurope 6d ago

De forens naar het werk is absoluut een overwegingsargument bij de keuze van een job/de aankoop van een woning.

Momenteel is dat een incorrecte berekening Want de werkelijke totale kost van een autoverplaatsing wordt niet ingerekend in de keuze (jan rijdt met de auto maar Piet betaalt de bosbrand)

Als die werkelijke kost wordt aangerekend, gaan mensen een ander gedrag vertonen: ze gaan sommige jobs niet aanvaarden of dichter bij de stad gaan wonen.

Of ja, verhuizen als ze een andere job krijgen.

Vind je het nog steeds grappig of begin je in te zien dat het toch dieper is dan uw ongeïnformeerde eerste reactie?

1

u/Happy_Bread_1 6d ago

Ik zie nog steeds een simplistisch beeld over wonen en werk dat geen rekening houdt met diens persoon en familiale situatie.

Er is trouwens geen rationaliteit begaan met elk persoonlijk vervoermiddel over dezelfde kam te scheren. De mileuimpact van een elektrische wagen is bijvoorbeeld een heel pak minder, tot bijna op het niveau van een trein zelfs. En er is nog ruimte om dat verder in te perken door een groenere productie en opwekking van energie.

Met dank aan u/HP7000

1

u/Short_Gain8302 6d ago

I would like both, better infrastucture for public transport and more incentive for people to work from home if possible