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The Region of Wallonia

Name

The Region of Wallonia

Population

3,525,540

GDP

73 839 millions euros (2006)

Country

Belgium

Overview

GHG emissions (year) 43019.21 Gg CO2-eq. (2010)

Wallonia is the predominantly French-speaking southern region of Belgium. It is governed as the Walloon Region, which makes up 55% of the territory of Belgium and a third of its population. Inside Belgium, a Federal state, the Walloon Region is responsible for the economy (partly) , employment (partly) , agriculture, water policy, housing, public works, energy, transport (with the exception of the national railway, SNCB), environment, land-use  planning, rural revitalisation, nature conservation, credit, foreign trade, and provincial, municipal and intermunicipal administration

Current Activities

Energy efficiency

Incentives are offered at regional level; roof, wall and floor insulation, the replacement of single-glazing by double high efficiency glazing, heat insulation, heating equipment. Regional measures also include energy renovation credit and zero interest rate loans. The UREBA decree, which came into force on June 10, 2003, seeks to award subsidies to public law corporations and non-commercial bodies to carry out studies and work aiming to improve the energy efficiency of their buildings.

Transposition into Belgian law of European directive 2002/91/EC on the energy performance of buildings.

Renewable energy

The green certificates mechanism (applying to RES and high efficiency CHP and based on non emitted CO2, comparing to reference electricity power plant and heat generator) has been developed to support the production of green electricity (i.e. produced using renewable energy sources, such as wind energy, hydraulic energy, solar energy and biomass) and combined heat and electricity production (CHP).

Clean transport

A range of public transport promotion measures have been taken in Wallonia. These measures include free travel for children up to the age of 12, a 50% reduction on travel passes for those in education up to the age of 24 and special measures for people giving up their vehicles and returning registration plates to the vehicle registration authority.

In Wallonia, an eco-tax incentive has been applied to the purchase of a vehicle by any private individual since January 1, 2008, although company cars are not covered by the measure. A bonus is awarded in the event of a cut in CO2 emissions and a penalty is applied in the case of excessive CO2 emissions based on a set standard, with the threshold being up to 1,000 EUR per vehicle. Recently, the system has been restricted to the benefit of very low emission vehicles only.

Sustainable land use

In the Walloon Region, the new Forestry Code (Decree of July 15, 2008) introduced a number of positive constraints on conservation of the forests and on storage of ligneous materials and carbon. The Walloon Region is also committed to PEFC certification of sustainable forest management.

Waste management

The Walloon Plan for Waste up to 2010 provides for measures to ban organic waste in the SWDS. The recovery of biogas – which, according to its methane content is either burned off or used to fuel gas engines – has been widely developed since 1990 and has largely reduced the emissions in this sector.

International collaboration

Wallonia contributes to the Fast Start initiative 2010-2012 by financing 17 projects (8.8 millions euros) in Africa and South America.

More info

Devolved powers and competencies relevant to climate and energy

The Walloon Region is responsible for the economy (partly), employment (partly), agriculture, water policy, housing, public works, energy, transport (with the exception of the national railway, SNCB), environment, land-use planning, rural revitalisation, nature conservation, credit, foreign trade, and provincial, municipal and intermunicipal administration.

Most important economic sectors

The current Walloon economy is relatively diversified, although certain areas (especially around Charleroi and Liège) are still suffering from the steel industry crisis, with a high unemployment rate of up to 30% in some regions. Nonetheless, Wallonia has some companies which are world leaders in their specialized fields, including glass production, lime and limestone production, cyclotrons and aviation parts.

GHG breakdown by sector (2010 - most inventory year):

Current power sector mix (2009):