Tens of thousands urge climate action at Brussels demo

BRUSSELS: Tens of thousands of people marched Sunday (Oct 11) through the Belgian capital Brussels to the EU's headquarters to demand greater action to combat climate change ahead of a major UN summit.

Record heatwaves across Europe in recent months have raised concerns about the impact that man-made climate change is having on the continent.

Delegates from around the globe will gather in the Turkish resort town of Antalya next month for the annual COP gathering.

But expectations are low that the meeting will yield any major breakthroughs as the United States under Donald Trump has disengaged from the process and momentum is waning in Europe.

"There is a great deal of concern among the population, not just among the protesters today," economist Etienne de Callatay told AFP, as he attended the march.

"The extreme heat we experienced this summer is something everyone was aware of. Politicians shouldn't be afraid of electoral repercussions if they take courageous measures on environmental issues."

Aurore Schreiber, who works for a development cooperation NGO, said she had attended with her family "so that politicians wake up and hear the citizens' message".

"We need to listen to the demands of young people and the most vulnerable," she said. "We need greener, fairer supply chains that take into account workers' issues and wages."

Police put the number of participants at the march, the latest in a series to be held in Brussels, at 45,000. 

Energy crisis

After having its hopes dashed for a more ambitious deal last year in Brazil, the European Union is setting its sights low for next month's COP31.

With climate sceptic Trump withdrawing the United States from the negotiations, international efforts to combat global warming had already taken a battering.

Now the situation looks even less promising. Surging energy prices have put major oil and gas producers in a position of strength that makes them less likely to want to discuss phasing out fossil fuels.

The EU insists it remains the global leader on climate action and is the principal international donor in the field.

But the bloc arrives at the COP having recently watered down its own environmental legislation.

As it struggles to compete with China and the United States, Brussels has been on an increasingly business-friendly push.

The most recent example last month was the commission proposing to postpone the implementation of a law targeting methane, an extremely polluting greenhouse gas, by one year, from 2027 to 2028.