The Belgian Federal Council for Sustainable Development (FRDO-CFDD) has issued an opinion on how climate risks should be better integrated into public finance and budget planning in Belgium.
The opinion notes that climate change has significant macrobudgetary impacts: it can reduce GDP, worsen debt trajectories, and generate major damage costs – especially in “business-as-usual” scenarios where mitigation and adaptation are not sufficiently strengthened. It stresses that these costs of inaction are still underestimated, as current models do not fully capture ecological and social risks, nor tipping points and cascading events.
The CFDD calls for: rapid and complete transposition of Directive (EU) 2024/1265 into Belgian law, continued investment in research and analytical capacity across Belgian budgetary institutions, better coordination between all levels of government for data and climate-risk analysis, and the development of a new national adaptation strategy based on the Belgian Climate Risk Assessment (BCRA).