In current ecosystem services frameworks, geosystem services (GS) are often overlooked, yet they play an important role in the energy and climate transition. Aquifer thermal energy storage, geothermal energy, (seasonal) gas storage and even storage of nuclear waste, derived from GS, can help us move towards a climate neutral Belgium. As with all ecosystem services, GS need to be used...
Carbon pricing can be an effective instrument for mitigating climate change. Yet, despite some growth over the past decade, public attitudes remain a major barrier to a broader adoption of these policies. Drawing on a large-scale survey experiment in Belgium, we provide novel evidence that framing carbon pricing from the beginning of the policy process within a broader policy package can...
The replacement of fossil fuels with renewable energy is essential for mitigating the impacts of human-induced climate change. Achieving this transition is a fundamental element of efforts to enable climate neutrality, requiring a reliable and resilient renewable energy system. However, global warming is expected to intensify the instability of renewable energy resources, particularly during...
The July 2019 heatwave broke the official Belgian temperature record by 3°C, and it was the first time that a temperature above 40°C was measured anywhere in Belgium. Extreme heat stress is known to impact health and lead to increased mortality numbers. For Brussels alone, 112 people died during this 5-day event, of which 46.7 are estimated to be due to the elevated temperatures. With...
This study investigates how age and educational attainment influence temperature-related mortality among the elderly across Belgian provinces, addressing a critical gap in understanding climate-related health inequalities. While climate change poses a major global health threat, evidence on socioeconomic and demographic disparities in temperature-mortality associations remains limited....
Greenhouse gas emissions continue to drive global warming, with severe and often irreversible impacts on ecosystems. Deep decarbonization remains essential to respect the Paris Agreement thresholds, but geoengineering concepts are gaining public attention as potential “quick fixes”.
We present our evaluattion of five of the most advertised geoengineering concepts for the polar regions,...
In response to the ecological crisis's urgency and severity, many young people have lost hope for the future. Reconsidering how we envision our own future and that of our society concerning climate change offers a relevant approach to foster hope. By doing so, episodic future projections related to ecological transition can motivate the adoption of pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors by...
"Our house is burning down and we're looking away." Twenty years after Jacques Chirac’s statement, this observation has evolved into a profound sense of dismay for many scientists. Faced with polarisation and persistent inertia, their responses are diverging: some, discouraged, are deserting the social media landscape —a trend accelerated by Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter— while others are...
Residential buildings play a central role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, making large-scale energy renovations essential to meet climate objectives. Despite strong policy efforts, renovation rates across Europe remain insufficient. Affordability is widely recognised as a major barrier, as many homeowners lack the financial means to undertake deep renovations. While previous studies have...
In the food sector, labeling plays a crucial role in consumer choices by providing crucial information about ingredients, nutritional details, and the origin of raw materials. Labeling helps consumers make informed purchasing decisions, promoting transparency and trust between them and producers.
Moreover, labeling is one of the most important tools for communicating sustainability, as many...
Background: The impact of heat on a vulnerable population, particularly those with pre-existing chronic diseases, is a growing public health concern. However, the risks for those with specific conditions and their variation across geographic, demographic, and socioeconomic (SES) status remain underexplored.
Methodology: We analysed 14 years (2005-2019) of general practitioners (GPs) data...
Abstract:
Understanding how forests respond to climate change requires real-time insight into tree water and carbon dynamics. Within the TreeWatch.net network (Steppe et al. 2016), continuous monitoring of sap flow (including advanced Sap Flow+ sensors), stem diameter variation, stem water potential, and meteorological variables reveals how trees respond to drought, heat, and other...
Understanding the climate and soil determinants of mycorrhizal fungal richness is essential for improving global carbon estimates and supporting nature-based climate strategies. Mycorrhizal fungi play a critical role in plant nutrient acquisition, soil carbon storage, and ecosystem resilience, yet their distribution patterns remain poorly represented in climate models. In this research, we...
Climate change poses a significant threat to agroecosystems by altering the environmental conditions that shape key soil microbial communities, including arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF). These fungi form vital symbiotic relationships with the roots of most terrestrial plants, enhancing nutrient uptake and influencing carbon cycling. Currently, little is known about how climate change...
Forests play a vital role in the global carbon cycle: they capture carbon from the atmosphere and store it in wood and soil. Tree growth is a crucial part of this process, as it is a way for ecosystems to fixate atmospheric carbon.
In this study, we examined wood formation (xylogenesis) in European beech (Fagus sylvatica) during the growing season in two contrasting years (2020–2021) with...
As Africa accelerates to become one of the world’s largest integrated electricity markets and sets the target to increase renewable generation capacity, the continent’s power systems are becoming more vulnerable to extreme weather and climate events. With growing shares of renewable resources in the power mix, events such as heatwaves, periods of low wind and solar availability or prolonged...
In recent years, widespread forest diebacks across Belgium have raised concerns about the vulnerability of forests to recurrent droughts. These events threaten not only biodiversity and ecosystem services but also the capacity of forests to function as stable carbon sinks - a cornerstone of Belgium’s climate-neutral transition. To mitigate these risks, it is crucial to understand the...
Since its inception, the concept of just transition has gained prominence in both political agendas and academic research. To date, just transition policies and studies have mainly focused on vulnerable groups — particularly on the distributive effects of climate mitigation policies on workers in carbon-intensive industries and low-income households, as well as on compensatory measures...
Widespread dieback and mortality have been observed across many tree species, leaving forest managers uncertain about how to adapt management practices to ongoing climate change. These disturbances have resulted in clear-cutting and gaps requiring reforestation through adaptive strategies. Identifying drought-tolerant species is therefore essential to strengthen forest resilience. Silver birch...
Just transition has emerged as a key concept in climate adaptation in the last years due to growing evidence on how the most vulnerable people and systems are disproportionally at risk from climate change. Socially vulnerable groups, such as older people, children and low-income groups, are disproportionately affected by the impacts of climate change and do not always benefit fairly from...
Climate education is widely championed as a key pillar for climate action, yet its real-world effectiveness reveals a stark paradox. Drawing on an integrative literature review, I demonstrate that education successfully drives adaptation in exposed Global South communities, yet often fails in the Global North where its impact is neutralized by political polarization.
This presentation...
Recently, a call has been made to start leveraging the depth of knowledge already developed in the domain of prosocial behavior to better understand pro-environmental behavior. In this project, we aim to first approach the question of whether being more pro-environmental is simply about being more prosocial.
We use an experimental approach to investigate whether both concerns are as...
