The programme is the result of years of work that cut across the responsibilities of most of her colleagues, in fields such as energy, housing, mobility, economy and agriculture. The basics of the climate programme were first laid out by Schauvliege on the eve of the Durban conference of the UN in December 2011.
The plan is Flanders’ response to an obligation imposed by the EU to cut greenhouse gases by 15% by 2020. The EU does not say how the Belgian state is to divide that responsibility between its regional governments, but Flanders has pre-empted the discussion by enforcing 15% on themselves, thereby imposing the same obligation on Brussels and Wallonia.
