From baby carriers to grandparents with canes, tens of thousands people marched through the streets of Brussels on Sunday to demand climate action.
Police counted 45,000 participants. The organisers, the Climate Coalition, counted 60,000. The protesters' placards were as varied as the crowd itself. Some carried hopeful messages, others were more confrontational: “Burn the system, not the planet”.
The Brussels Times asked several of them why they came, what keeps them going, and what they want Belgium's politicians to hear.
“It is unacceptable that this crisis is enriching polluters while making our loved ones suffer,” said Nadia Cornejo, spokesperson for the Climate Coalition. “The money is there, the solutions exist.”
In a press release, the Climate Coalition, which brings together more than 90 organisations, demanded a permanent tax on fossil fuel profits, a plan to phase out fossil fuels, and an end to fossil fuel subsidies, which it says amounted to more than €15 billion in 2024.
The march came just weeks before COP31, the UN climate summit, opens in Türkiye.
The protesters did not all share the same reasons for being there, but they all shared the same concern: time is running out.
Credit: The Brussels Times
One of the participants, Roger Van Cutsem, is a grandparent.
He carried a sun-shaped placard with a clear message to the politicians on the backside, in French “Bougez vos fesses parce que le climat ça presse”, roughly translated, “Get off your backs, because the climate can’t wait.”
For Van Cutsem, the climate crisis is about more than rising temperatures.
“When it comes to the climate, the future of the planet, our children’s future and the future of democracy, it is one minute to midnight,” he said. “If we don’t move now, it will be too late.”
He accused politicians of trying to save an economic model that is going bankrupt and contributing to the planets collapse, because they think that they can continue to profit from it. "By doing so, they are compromising the future for our children, and our grandchildren," he said.
He also had a financial argument: “Inaction costs more than action. Even if you only look at the budget, it’s completely absurd.”
Most Belgians agree with him: in a 2025 Eurobarometer survey, 79% said the damage from climate change will end up costing more than the green transition.
Why do they keep showing up?
For some of the younger people in the crowd, the frustration comes from a different place. They have been warning about the climate crisis for years and are still waiting for a response.
Bo Vanhoorickx, a student at Ghent University, has been coming to climate marches since they were 12. Almost nine years later, they are still turning up, despite growing doubts about political action.
“I often ask myself why I still come,” Vanhoorickx said. “Our government is still not moving a lot.”
They used to march to show politicians that public support for climate action was broad. Now, the motivation has become more personal.
Bo Vanhoorickx, credit: The Brussels Times
“Sometimes I feel like there’s no one out there feeling the same things I am, worrying about the same things. So now I come to see that there are people who care. A lot of different people. It gives me just a little bit of hope. Like, I can still be proud to call myself a human,” Vanhoorickx said.
That sense of hope can come from unexpected places: Vanhoorickx was struck by the Christian marchers and their slogans such as "love your neighbour, safe the planet".
“If there’s something in the Bible to follow, that’s exactly it,” they said. “I believe communities are our only hope out of here.”
Their message to the politicians was less gentle: “Get your priorities straight.”
Josse Deconinck (front) and Mette Vermeire (behind). Credit: The Brussels Times
For others, solidarity didn't not erase the frustration. Mette Vermeire and Josse Deconinck, master’s students at KASK School of Arts in Ghent, were teenagers during the school climate strikes in 2019. They are still marching, but struggle to see what has changed.
“We are the generation that went on school strike, and I have the feeling that nothing has really changed,” said Vermeire. “That we’re actually going downhill.”
Deconinck felt just as helpless. “We’ve been worrying for so long, asking for so long, protesting for so long, and really, nothing happens.”
Still, like Vanhoorickx, he found some comfort in the crowd. “But it’s nice to see so many people here.”
Their message to politicians was simple. “Act now,” said Vermeire. “We know so much, and we know how we can change things.” Deconinck added: “Prioritise the planet. Be less selfish.”
“Listen to the people”
If the school strikers have grown up still waiting, some marchers are already bringing the next generation along.
For cultural worker Veerle Straetemans, who came with her children, being there was also about showing them what it means to stand up for something.
“We have to stand up and make our voices heard,” she said. “A lot of people want change. They want politicians to do something about it.”
Her placard carried a statistic: 78% of Belgians want action on climate change. The gap between what people want and what politicians decide frustrates her.
“And they just make other decisions, which is very very frustrating,” Straetemans said. Her message to politicians is just four words: “Listen to the people.”
A government with other things on its mind
Whether anyone in government was listening remains uncertain.
Belgium's federal government is searching for around €10 billion in savings and was due to present its budget to parliament on Tuesday, but this will be postponed as Prime Minister Bart De Wever (N-VA) already stated that will not find a deal in time.
For the Climate Coalition, that budget is exactly where climate policy is decided. In its priorities for the march, it called for mass home renovation through grants or interest-free loans, more room for cycling, walking and public transport, a shift from fossil fuels into the transition, and sustainable heating and better public transport, rather than continued support for fossil fuels, Belga News Agency reported.
