What is a fair emissions budget for Belgium

This report evaluates fair greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions budgets for Belgium using different distribution models, concluding that Belgium has likely already exhausted its fair share of the global carbon space.

• Under a 'grandfathering' approach—which distributes the 2020 remaining global budget based on emissions at that time and assumes a linear path to zero—Belgium must reduce total GHG emissions by 61.0% below 1990 levels by 2030. This is characterized as the absolute minimum reduction for a developed nation, though it is noted that this method benefits high-emitting countries and disadvantages developing ones.
• If the global carbon budget is distributed based on population, Belgium's required GHG emission reduction by 2030 increases to 81.5%. However, this calculation does not account for Belgium's high historical responsibility or its high capability.
• To achieve an unambiguously fair share that considers all of Belgium's characteristics, the country would need to reduce GHG emissions to below zero by 2030, as it has already used its fair share of carbon space. Consequently, the report suggests Belgium would reach zero CO2 emissions by 2040 (grandfathering) or 2032 (population-based), both of which are significantly earlier than Belgium's current 2050 target for climate neutrality.

APA

NewClimate Institute (2023). What is a fair emissions budget for Belgium. http://www.newclimate.org/resources/publications/what-is-a-fair-emissions-budget-for-belgium

Chicago

NewClimate Institute. What is a fair emissions budget for Belgium. 2023. http://www.newclimate.org/resources/publications/what-is-a-fair-emissions-budget-for-belgium.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=NewClimate Institute |title=What is a fair emissions budget for Belgium |date=31 March 2023 |url=http://www.newclimate.org/resources/publications/what-is-a-fair-emissions-budget-for-belgium |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{newclimateinstitute2023what, author = {{NewClimate Institute}}, title = {{What is a fair emissions budget for Belgium}}, institution = {NewClimate Institute}, year = {2023}, month = mar, url = {http://www.newclimate.org/resources/publications/what-is-a-fair-emissions-budget-for-belgium}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }