Belgian Nuclear Phaseout Will Increase Country’s GHG Emissions

Belgium’s planned nuclear phaseout by 2025 is expected to increase the country’s greenhouse gas emissions and energy imports, a report by the Federal Planning Bureau (FPB) found.

The report said nuclear power is expected to supply 35% of Belgium’s electricity in 2023, but warned that the share would plunge to zero at the start of 2026, resulting in increased gas generation and a ‘systematic increase’ in emissions.

As a result, natural gas power generation will compensate for the loss of nuclear power with its share estimated to increase from 19% in 2021 to 28% in 2023 and to 56% by the end of 2025.

Renewables are expected to supply 30% of electricity in 2026, up from 26% in 2021.

Estimates showed that energy-related emissions in 2020 were 78.2 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent, while projections for 2026 were 94.7 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent.

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