Belgian celebrities and scientists call for prosecution for “climate crimes”

A group of 11 Belgian scientists, artists and business leaders has threatened to bring a legal action against the country’s four governments – three regional and one federal – for “climate crimes”.

The group (pictured), which includes filmmaker Nic Balthazar, artist Koen Vanmechelen, climate ambassador Serge de Gheldere and actor Francesca Vanthielen, announced their intention at an event in Ghent on Monday evening. Spokesperson De Gheldere – CEO of the Leuven-based Futureproofed, a consultancy for improving industry’s environmental impact – said that the governments are failing to do enough to meet their obligation to cut carbon emissions by 40% by 2020.

“There is no discussion among science and politicians regarding the fact that we have to keep global warming under two degrees Celsius,” said De Gheldere, who is a climate ambassador under Al Gore’s programme. “Belgium has engaged on an international level in order to take measures, but it has done little to deliver on those promises.”

Flanders’ environment minister, Joke Schauvliege, responded by pleading personally “guilty” to the charges but stressed that the government had already done a great deal to cut emissions. “It’s a positive sign that people are discussing climate change,” she wrote in De Morgen. “The government definitely has a responsibility, and no one is denying that, but individual actions and free choice also play a role.”

The “climate crime prosecution” is modelled on similar legal cases brought in the Netherlands and the US. “The longer we wait, the worse it gets,” the organisers argue.

They plan to launch an action in the courts in January if the four governments fail to respond to their demands. They also ask that citizens join them in the case. As of this morning, the paperwork to join the action had been downloaded in Belgium 3,500 times.

photo courtesy Klimaatzaak