Join us at the University of Antwerp on May 15th, from 3 to 5pm (room S.R. 118) to hear from the main actors involved in the Klimaatzaak and Farmer Case, two milestone legal cases in the history of the Belgian and European climate litigation.
In 2014, 11 concerned citizens decided to take action against Belgium's faltering climate policy. They established the non-profit organization Klimaatzaak and initiated legal proceedings against the relevant authorities. The aim of the lawsuit: to hold Belgium accountable for its responsibility in the global fight against climate change. On 30 November 2023, almost ten years later, the Brussels Court of Appeal mandated the Federal State, the Flemish Region and Brussels to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels. It was a historic verdict that signaled a global trend where courts issue binding emission reduction orders to guide political action.
Walking on the path opened by Klimaatzaak, on 13 March, 2024, the Walloon farmer Hugues Falys filed a lawsuit against the carbon major company TotalEnergies for its responsibility in climate change. In recent years, his farm has been hit by several extreme weather events, resulting in significant damage, loss of yields, herd reductions and concerns for the future. Three organizations, FIAN, Greenpeace and the Ligue des droits humains formally filed their petition for intervention on 29 March 2024. Together with Hugues Falys, their aim is to hold one of the world’s largest multinational fossil fuel companies to account and obtain a judicial recognition of private responsibility for past climate-related damages and in posing a significant risk for the future. The Farmer Case has already gone through the first hearing, and will be unfolding in the coming months.
This interactive session will be an opportunity to deepen our knowledge on the technicalities and specificities of the cases, to reflect on the way in which public and private accountability may dialogue and be interrelated, and to think broadly about the role that courts and climate litigation can play in accelerating the transition that is required by international, regional and national commitments.
The event is co-organized by the Law and Development Research Group at the Faculty of Law and FIAN Belgium, and will see the participation of:
· Koen Doggen, organic farmer in Zwijndrecht.
· Mieke Van den Broeck, lawyer at Progresse Lawyers Network
· Sarah Tak, coordinator of the non-profit organization Klimaatzaak
· Céline Romainville, Professor of Law at UCLouvain and General Secretary of the Ligue de Droits Humains
The event is hosted by Tomaso Ferrando from UAntwerpen Faculty of Law and moderated by Raf Callaerts from FIAN Belgium.
Time: Wednesday 15 May, h15-17
Location: S.R.118 (entry via Rodestraat or Kleine Kauwenberg)
Note that no hybrid option is available.
Meet the speakers
Koen Doggen
Koen Doggen is the farmer of Moesland, an organic horticultural farm spanning 1.5 hectares in Zwijndrecht. The vegetables are all sold within a 10 km radius of the farm, through a Community Supported Agriculture system of subscription packages, as well as through direct collaboration with local stores in Deurne and Berchem.
The farm practices regenerative agriculture, employing non-inversion tillage, carbon sequestration, and biodiversity measures.
In a previous life, Koen was a study supervisor at the secondary school Pius X. There, he organized numerous interdisciplinary projects on democracy, environment, climate, art, and science. However, he decided to roll up his sleeves and retrain at Landwijzer, the training center for organic farming. Moesland is now entering its seventh season, amidst yet another spring of extreme weather conditions.
Mieke Van de Broeck
Mieke Van den Broeck is a member of Progress Lawyers Network since 2007, where she has been specializing in asylum and migration cases and advocating for activists in all their facets. She obtained her Master's degree in History from Ghent University in 2003 and her Master's degree in Law in 2007. Previously, she worked as a policy officer at the League for Human Rights and served on the Board of Directors of Greenpeace
Sarah Tak
Sarah Tak holds a degree in both nursing and law and is the coordinator of the non-profit organisation Klimaatzaak. With a support base of almost 71.000 citizens, Klimaatzaak is a true grassroot movement as well as one of the world’s leading climate cases to date. In the past, Sarah worked for the European Commission, the European and Flemish Parliament and several ministerial cabinets as advisor on foreign and European affairs. Sarah is member of the board of the Flemish environmental coalition Bond Beter Leefmilieu, and was the producer of Nic Balthazar's documentary Duty of Care on climate justice. www.dutyofcare.world
Céline Romainville
Céline Romainville teaches constitutional law, human rights law and general state theory at UCLouvain. Her research focuses on federalism and Brussels institutions, the parliamentary system and trust in political institutions, and constitutional law in the face of climate change. She has co-founded the Rosa Parks Law Clinics of UCLouvain, within which students work with her on climate litigation. Céline Romainville is also General Secretary of the Ligue des droits humains, which is a party to the "The Farmer Case" against TotalEnergies.
Raf Callaerts studied law, passed the Brussels bar and has been teaching on environmental, energy and climate change law related topics at the KU Leuven for nearly a decade. Raf became more active in the agro-ecological movement by volunteering, obtaining a permaculture design certificate and graduating from the Landwijzer learning program for biological and biodynamic farming. Raf joined FIAN Belgium as a policy officer in 2024.
Tomaso Ferrando is Research Professor at the Faculty of Law and IOB (University of Antwerp), where he conducts research and teaches on the legal construction of food systems, the link between law and global logistics, and the financialization of the green transition.