Investments in new green energy by Belgian energy suppliers have dropped by 51% in the past five years, according to a Greenpeace analysis published on Wednesday.
In 2020, suppliers reported installing approximately 1,662 gigawatt hours of additional solar and wind capacity over the preceding two years. Their most recent reports show this figure has fallen to 821 gigawatt hours.
Greenpeace attributes much of this decline to complicated permitting procedures for wind turbines, which often face opposition from local communities.
The organisation is urging regional governments to revise their permitting policies, stating that “a minority is blocking the future development of wind energy,” according to Tobias Pans, Greenpeace Belgium’s energy transition expert.
On Tuesday, it emerged that only five of the fourteen planned wind turbines along the E313 motorway between Riemst and Tongeren-Borgloon were granted approval, again due to local protests.
Greenpeace noted that investments in offshore wind energy have also plummeted, despite such projects not encountering the same permitting issues as onshore wind turbines.
Solar installations are unaffected by these challenges but are insufficient to offset the shortfall in wind energy.
The organisation also criticised energy suppliers for failing to take adequate steps to phase out fossil fuels used for home heating.
Greenpeace says most suppliers are no longer on track to achieve exclusively renewable energy production by 2035.
Tobias Pans specifically called out companies like TotalEnergies and Mega for "misleading CO2-offsetting" practices and Engie for continuing to promote gas boilers.
Greenpeace has updated its ranking of the greenest energy suppliers on mijngroenestroom.be.
Eneco dropped three points to score 13 out of 20, while Engie-Electrabel fell from 7 to 3 points. The cooperatives Cociter, Ecopower, and Wase Wind retained their perfect scores, and newcomer EnergyVision debuted in fourth place with 18 points.
