On 19 and 20 February 2024, the Belgian Climate Centre organized the first edition of the Belgian Science for Climate Action Conference in Maison de la Poste in Brussels. The theme of this inaugural conference was ‘Climate Extremes: Causes & Consequences’.
Over two full days, about 400 scientists, academics, decision makers, and private sector representatives gathered to take part in workshops, debates, and scientific sessions that all together gave a sense of the richness and diversity of Belgian climate research. It was the first time a climate event of this scale with such diverse participants was organised in Belgium.
Climate change is expected to increase both the frequency and intensity of climate extremes, such as severe droughts, heat waves, and floods. Such events can have profound impacts on society and ecosystems, so there is an urgent need to better understand their causes, risks, and consequences. To better anticipate these events, both policymakers and the private sector increasingly need actionable climate science and effective knowledge transfer.
It is precisely to shed more light on the current state of our knowledge and need that more than 70 researchers, scientists, policy makers and public & private sector representatives took the stage during the 18 parallel sessions and 5 keynote sessions that constituted the conference. The information shared during the two days is too broad and diverse to summarise here, but here are a few of the memorable facts and stories we heard:
During the session on sea level extremes and marine heatwaves, we learned that with the current warming of 1,2°C compared to pre-industrial levels, we are getting dangerously close to the tipping points for the Greenland and West-Antarctica ice sheets. Further warming will increase their likelihood and may also trigger tipping points in East-Antarctica. Crossing these tipping points would lead to multi-meter sea level rise over hundreds to thousands of years.
Climate change will have an impact on many sectors, and many aspects of our daily lives, for instance on energy infrastructure. Belgium is a pioneer in offshore wind and our offshore wind energy production is the 4th largest in the world. Renewable energy is a cornerstone of the transition towards net zero. However, a warming climate may see more periods with little wind (and thus, little wind production), especially in the fall, for the North Sea and the English Channel.
In the session on cities and climate extremes, panelists discussed the impact of climate change on cities and urban areas. They will notably experience increases in local temperatures of +1,5°C and 2°C earlier than other areas. For instance, the summer mean projected temperature for Brussels will rise 3.6°C to 4.1°C under the Paris agreement. Therefore, adaptation measures are important, especially in cities. In addition, science is also clear that cities and urban areas are sites of innovation, adaptation, mitigation, and sustainable development.
The session on physical and mental health touched upon both the impacts of climate change on human health as well as how to foster the kind of behavioural changes needed for the climate transition. The importance of co-beneficial factors of behavioural changes was emphasized: certain choices (such as cycling or eating less meat) not only help reduce emissions but also help to improve health. We learned about the importance of the words we use. One speaker pointed out that to convince someone to eat more sustainably, it is more effective to call it “healthy”, to which another researcher added that to convince someone to eat healthily, it is more effective to call it “delicious”.
The session on insuring climate risks made it apparent that the insurance sector is already experiencing the impact of climate change. Damage claims related to natural disasters are rising by 7 percent each year. Globally, over the past 5 years, the insurance industry saw a cumulated natural disaster damage claim bill of up to 100 billion euros. In the 1.5°C warming scenario, the insurance sector expects a 20 percent increase in costs due to climate change related claims. In a 2°C warming scenario, this percentage would be 50 percent higher than today.
In parallel, a poster session (& competition) was being held, spread over 2 days. Out of the 80 submitted projects, a jury selected 3 winners:
Olivia Raspoet, ULB, The basal thermal state of the Antarctic ice sheet
Seppe Lampe, VUB, Global burned area increasingly affected by climate change
Eva Beele, KULeuven, Urban forests or urban savanas? Tailoring cooling strategies to spatial and temporal variability in urban environments
Several participants expressed their enthusiasm about the conference with the organisers.
“The place, environment, attendees, format and quality of the interventions (scientific and artistic) were outstanding. I could not have imagined a better kick-off event just one year after the creation of the Climate Centre. That was an inspiring and motivating event that showed all the potential that we have in Belgium.”
François Massonet, UCLouvain
With regards to the ecological footprint of the conference, we did what we reasonably could to minimise the impact on the environment and carbon dioxide emissions. Participants were encouraged to come by public transport, most of the catering was vegetarian, and food leftovers were redistributed by a charity to people in need. In total, 38 kilograms of food were distributed to 76 people, thus saving an estimated 55 kg of CO2 emissions.
Presentations
Please find hereby a link to the different presentations that were shared during the plenary and parallel sessions (and that we get a permission to share).
Day 1
Keynotes
Compound events & tipping points
Resilience of transport infrastructure to climate extremes
Biodiversity & agricultural resilience to climate extremes
Resilience of energy infrastructure to climate extremes
to
Navigating the climate research funding landscape
Day 2
Keynotes
Sea level extremes & marine heatwaves
Impacts of climate extremes on the carbon cycle
How to create (media) impact with your research
Attribution of climate extremes
Q&A with the Belgian Climate Centre
Cities and climate extremes
Pictures of the event can be found here (please include a 'photo credit: Noé David' mention should you wish to share and distribute these images yourself) : https://www.flickr.com/photos/200166666@N06/
