More than 100 European cities have pledged to become climate neutral by 2030. Leuven, a small but ambitious Belgian city, is one of them. We spoke to Nick Meynen of Leuven2030 about how far the city has come, what is slowing it down, and why local action needs real EU support to succeed.
A decade ago, this old university city united residents, businesses, civil society, and public institutions under a shared roadmap: climate neutrality by 2030.
The ambition is still alive, but the journey has proved far more complex than the early momentum suggested. Leuven has drawn up detailed plans, built coalitions, and launched dozens of innovative projects. What it has not always received is the enabling support it needs to deliver.
We sat down with Nick Meynen, a former contributor to META and climate transition manager at Leuven 2030 to discuss the gaps between climate ambition and the real-world means to make it happen.
Interview
Leuven 2030 – what does that actually mean in practice? Can a city really become climate-neutral by the end of the decade?
Back in 2019, when Ursula von der Leyen called the Green Deal the EU’s moon mission, it still seemed possible. Leuven rose to the challenge. Like the European Commission, we decided to leap as far as we could by 2030, aiming for a socially just, all-of-society climate transition. Our organisation was actually created for this purpose, back in 2013. Leuven2030 brings together all climate-relevant actors in the city under one non-profit. Our team developed a 1,000-page climate city contract with 87 breakthrough projects across all major emitting sectors, with 2030 as the target date.
If the estimated €1.3 billion in annual investments and 88.5 extra full-time staff associated with this moonshot had materialised, Leuven would probably be on track to reach an 80% emissions reduction by 2030. Leuven imagined it, engineers from SWECO calculated it, and our mayor – who is still in office – was fully committed to it. But the enabling conditions to turn the dream into reality have yet to materialise. After embarking cities like Leuven on a moon mission, the EU captain seems to have jumped ship before the rocket really lifted off. And the financial situation in both Belgium and Leuven has worsened.
So now, the short answer is: “no.”
Your first answer feels like a harsh dose of reality. Still, the 2030 target has pushed the local administration to imagine what is possible and try to achieve it. If I walk through Leuven today, what will I see that shows the city is getting serious about climate action?
If you visit the major cultural centre OPEK and take the stairs to the rooftop terrace, you will see a new solar installation with 110 panels. At the Materials Bank, you will find Leuven developing an urban mining economy. On Meunier Street, greenery has replaced large portions of road – and while not visible yet, the city has also decided to build the first geothermal district heating network beneath this public road, overcoming multiple barriers in the process. Still, most of the work remains to be done.
What are the most impactful climate measures Leuven has taken so far, especially in energy and buildings?
Some important decisions have been made. The city has approved the installation of solar panels on four large municipal buildings, which together will reduce emissions by almost 100 tonnes annually. A green heat network for several hundred households has also been approved and budgeted. And the renovation of the old, majestic city hall will incorporate pioneering energy-saving measures tailored for historic buildings.
Let’s talk about barriers. What’s the hardest part of being a climate-ambitious city right now?
Losing leadership at EU level. Take Leuven’s proposal for a basket of large-scale collective renovations worth over €100 million as an example. This involved things like bundling the pending energy renovation of three neighbouring buildings – each with a workforce of around 1,000 people – into one massive project involving deep geothermal heat. This was part of a multimillion ELENA grant application at the European Investment Bank, to cover just the study costs of those potential large-scale collective renovations. The application was rejected, based on the – for us – irrelevant fact that Leuven had already used a similar budget line in the past for totally different buildings.
For solar energy on large roofs, we have bumped into some roadblocks linked to the difficulty of making a multinational act with a local mindset.
More broadly, a concerning chill trickles down from the top to the Leuven level. Under the current austerity, military spending, and narrowly defined “competitiveness” climate, bold climate action at scale just cannot compete with other political priorities. Leuven tried to redefine “competitiveness” and our mayor successfully rallied the other Mission Cities behind our position paper to the European Commission about the barriers – and the benefits of overcoming them together. We are yet to receive a reply. Maybe the intention to kill even the LIFE grants – the EU’s funding instrument for environment and climate action – is the only “reply” we’ll get. Leuven currently uses this LIFE budget line for pilot projects like combatting energy poverty. We need more EU budget lines to implement our detailed plans – not fewer.
The hardest part is that both political and actual capital are drying up, while it was supposed to scale up. That being said, there are also local barriers related to having a Climate City Contract that is mega broad in scope, but not the one overarching policy plan that gets priority over other plans competing for attention and budget.
Are you seeing a shift in how citizens in Leuven engage with climate action?
Yes. I have seen citizens who participated in the Fridays For Future movement move on in two opposite directions: radicalisation, or apathy and cynicism. Most people are losing faith and trust. Mismanagement at the above-local policy level, and the ubiquitous presence of disinformation, are causing ever more negativity about renewable energy. People are constantly scared into believing that solar energy will cost them dearly, just because for some hours in the year they need to pay the grid operator to send them energy they can’t use or store.
We see open letters about the injustice of the climate transition from those who still care about climate, and a general shift in attention towards the many, many other urgent injustices in the world that compete for people’s anger. Even the most ambitious Belgian city on climate is not immune to the biggest loss in climate action momentum that I have seen in my two decades of engagement with the still-escalating climate crisis. Those who really pay attention still notice the bits of progress and the struggles with upside potential – but the information market seems to make it even harder to have enough people knowing what the real issues are.
You call on the EU to treat cities as full policy actors, not just implementers. What does that look like in practice?
That means the EU must rely on local administrators to actively monitor whether Member States are properly implementing new EU green laws. Take the upcoming Emissions Trading System (ETS2), set to introduce a carbon price for heating and road transport fuels in 2027, along with the Social Climate Fund designed to cushion the impact of high prices on the most vulnerable. Local authorities must have meaningful opportunities to participate in the transposition of these rules and the drafting of related plans — yet many report they have been excluded from these processes.
Similarly, if the EU wants to accelerate building renovations and the rollout of geothermal district heating, it must empower cities as pilot implementers, rather than relying solely on ministries. After all, cities are on the frontlines, dealing with the practical realities of implementing ambitious targets set far away in the Berlaymont (EU Commission’s headquarters) bubble.
What is missing today in terms of EU support for the kind of change you are trying to drive in Leuven?
We need the EU to recognise climate-ambitious cities as key partners in the Green Industrial Deal and security strategy, update rules to enable local energy systems and shift funding away from fossil fuels, and ensure cities have a real seat at the decision-making table. Crucially, cities must gain direct access to investment to implement projects like heating networks and public transport, because ambition alone isn’t enough without the means to act.
Together with other leading cities, Leuven launched a joint call to Europe: involve cities not just in delivering climate policy, but in shaping it. Read more in our position paper.
If you could send one message to the current European Commission, what would it be?
The vast decarbonising efforts by cities could boost economic competitiveness by creating lead markets for clean industries and by maintaining the international competitiveness of strategic industries. Consider cities that build geothermal district heating as strategic projects – weaning the EU off a fossil fuel import dependency it cannot afford for climate reasons, nor for geopolitical ones. State-sponsored climate policy is the new Realpolitik.
What advice would you give to smaller or less-resourced cities trying to move in the same direction as Leuven?
Get broad buy-in from all the key stakeholders – but don’t count on carrots and kind words only. Agree on accountability and sticks early on. Don’t count on the current European leaders. Work out a deal with your citizens instead. Of course, do keep applying for specific funding that makes implementation possible. Unite with other cities and NGOs and citizens who have not lost their way into populism. Go where there is good energy coming from the streets. And don’t hide behind the lack of a mandate. Make a mandate.
