The Dutch Climate Week Shows What Is Wrong with Climate Policy: Belgium Has Been Warned
The Dutch Climate Week is meant to encourage citizens to adopt more sustainable lifestyles. But behind the vegan baking workshops and climate ambassadors lies a much larger issue: a government that increasingly believes it should decide how people ought to live. For Belgium, this serves as a warning. Meanwhile, the broader energy transition is running into technical and economic limits, while politicians continue to cling to unrealistic and, at times, naïve ideals. As Pim Fortuyn once remarked, "Blessed are the simple-minded.”
The Dutch Climate Week
The Dutch Climate Week has barely begun, yet the government is once again explaining to citizens how they should live their lives. From November 2 to 8, climate quizzes, vegan baking workshops, and test drives with shared vehicles are all on the agenda. More than 300 climate ambassadors and 165 municipalities are taking part. No one is harmed by a slice of plant-based cake. Yet behind the friendly atmosphere lies an idea that should concern Belgium: citizens must change because the government has already mapped out their future.
Rather than first proving that its plans are affordable, reliable, and practical, the government seems to expect the public to change how they eat, travel, and use energy. Those who remain unconvinced apparently just need more education. Dutch Climate Week is organised by the Climate Foundation HIER. Between 2016 and 2025, the organisation received more than €19.5 million in government funding across various projects. Not all of that money was spent on Climate Week itself, but the question remains why so many public resources are devoted to steering citizens in a preferred direction while the tangible results of energy policy remain, to put it mildly, open to debate.
The foundation also has roots in the environmental activist movement. Founder Sible Schöne previously worked for Friends of the Earth Netherlands and the World Wildlife Fund. In other words, it can hardly be described as a politically neutral government initiative. In this case, it appears more like policy advocacy than objective public information.
Across the Netherlands, criticism has understandably begun to emerge. Hart voor Den Haag, for example, wants to abolish the municipal Climate Week altogether and use the funding instead to improve home insulation. As city councillor Carlos Martínez van Andel rightly asked: what helps a household more, a plant-based tasting event or a properly insulated roof?
Citizens Must Adapt, Not the Policy
For Belgium, this is not merely a Dutch phenomenon. The energy transition is often presented here as a predetermined destination as well. Citizens may be allowed to choose which heat pump they buy or when they charge their electric vehicles, if they are fortunate enough to have those options. Whether the transition itself is feasible or even desirable often seems secondary.
That is precisely the warning sign of a government that has lost touch with its citizens. Climate policy cannot indefinitely rely on the assumption that public support will automatically follow if policymakers repeat the same message often enough. Most people have no objection to cleaner air, more efficient homes, or reducing waste. What frustrates them is being expected to pay the bill for policies while feeling they have little say in shaping them.
The more aggressively governments involve themselves in people's everyday habits, the more likely a practical issue becomes a cultural battleground. The debate shifts from whether a measure works to who gets to decide what happens at the dinner table, in the garage, or in the living room. Governments that constantly lecture people should not be surprised when citizens begin rejecting even reasonable measures.
Reality Is Catching Up With Climate Ambitions
Meanwhile, the Dutch energy transition is colliding with a less celebratory reality: an electricity grid that is increasingly overloaded. Businesses are being forced to wait for new or upgraded grid connections, while housing developments are being delayed. According to WoningBouwersNL, construction firms affected by grid congestion expect to build 25 percent fewer homes on average by 2027. By 2028, projected production losses could approach 40 percent. Even homes that have already been sold may face delays because grid connections are unavailable. As a result, the energy transition risks worsening the housing shortage.
The reliability of the electricity network is also under pressure. According to Netbeheer Nederland, the number of connections facing an elevated risk of disruptions could rise from approximately 400,000 today to 800,000 by 2035. This does not mean all those households will lose power, but solar panels are increasingly causing voltage problems on sunny days, while electric vehicles and heat pumps create additional strain at other times. Even planned grid expansions may prove insufficient to eliminate all bottlenecks.
The seriousness of the situation is reflected in remarks made by State Secretary Jo-Annes de Bat of the Ministry of Climate and Green Growth. He argued that Dutch citizens must become accustomed to electricity not always being available on demand. “There may be moments when you simply do not have power, and we are not used to that,” he said. He wants households and businesses to shift more of their electricity consumption to off-peak periods, making this the “new normal.”
Supply security presents another challenge. Grid operator TenneT has warned that the Netherlands could exceed its legal electricity reliability standards from 2030 onward. This does not mean widespread blackouts are imminent, but it does indicate that the calculated risk of electricity shortages is increasing. Wind turbines, solar panels, and battery storage systems do not automatically solve every problem. A reliable electricity system must also function on a cold, windless winter evening.
Belgium is encountering similar difficulties. In Flanders, grid operator Fluvius has warned of expected congestion for large electricity connections. Companies can no longer automatically assume they will receive the capacity they request. High-voltage grid operator Elia has also indicated that additional generation capacity may be required from 2028 onward under certain scenarios. Belgium, too, must contend with the technical limitations of its electricity system.
Electricity prices add another dimension to the issue. According to Eurostat, Belgian households paid an average of €34.99 per 100 kilowatt-hours of electricity during the second half of 2025, placing Belgium among the most expensive countries in the European Union. The energy transition is not solely responsible for those costs, but affordable electricity is becoming increasingly important as households and businesses are encouraged to move away from gas and other conventional fuels.
None of this means the Netherlands or Belgium is on the verge of widespread power outages. However, the consequences of an overloaded grid are already becoming visible in the Netherlands. Housing projects are delayed, businesses are waiting for connections, and grid operators are searching for ways to prevent overloads. At the same time, government policy increasingly pushes people toward electric vehicles and electric heating. Similar challenges are now emerging in Belgium. This raises an important question: are energy transition plans being implemented faster than the electricity grid can accommodate? That is the debate policymakers should be having, rather than promoting another climate-themed event during Climate Week.
The Netherlands Cannot Control the Global Climate
There is also a more fundamental question: how much influence can a small country such as the Netherlands truly exert over the global climate? The Netherlands can contribute to international emissions reductions, especially as part of broader international cooperation. Yet it cannot determine global temperatures on its own. The same is true for Belgium. What the Netherlands can do directly is prepare more effectively for the consequences of climate change. That means reducing flood risks, protecting homes from heat waves, addressing drought conditions, strengthening dikes, and properly insulating existing housing stock. At the same time, the electricity grid must be expanded so that new homes and businesses are not constrained by shortages in power capacity. These are practical measures that protect citizens and support economic activity.
The lesson of Dutch Climate Week, then, is not that people should not bake vegan cheesecakes. The lesson is that governments risk undermining their own credibility when lifestyle campaigns appear to take precedence over addressing the practical challenges of the energy transition. Policymakers who want to maintain public support must do more than tell citizens how to live. They must ensure that the necessary infrastructure actually works.
The Netherlands needs more than a week of climate-themed good intentions. It needs a government capable of ensuring that people can continue to live, work, and pay their energy bills. Belgium faces the same challenge. That is the difference between selling an ideal and governing a country. Image Credits: AI-generated editorial illustration.
