City of Liège

The City of Liège, the third largest urban centre in Belgium (after Brussels and Antwerp), stands out through its commitment to the climate, democracy and inclusion. Since 2003, supported by citizen participation, the city has defined its urban policy through its City Project.

In 2017, the metropolitan area signed the Milan Pact for sustainable food. In 2020, it committed to the Paris Declaration. The signature of these agreements is consistent with the goals that Liège has set itself in its Municipal Policy Declaration 2018-2024.

A participative and inclusive approach, the key to Liège’s climate strategy

To define its City Project, the city council has opted fora participative and democratic approach since 2003. It invited citizens to propose urban and sustainable development projects on a dedicated web platform. After an initial submission phase, the people of Liège were then given the opportunity to vote for or against each project. Then votes and projects were then analysed and submitted to the City Council which approved the final document.

The fifth City Project was issued in late September 2019. The upstream actions targeting different groups gave everyone the possibility to take part in the project. The Liège 2025 platform gathered 1,603 project ideas and nearly 100,000 votes were cast. Through this active collaboration, the Strategic Transversal Programme (PST) now includes 137 priority actions and 12 metropolitan actions.

The Liège City Project for 2050

The Belgian city is working to become a neutral, sustainable, supportive and inclusive city by 2050.

A signatory of the Glasgow Declaration on Food and Climate, it is putting food at the heart of its climate transition. Economically it will promote a circular economy to guarantee food quality for its population. The City also encourages recycling, reuse of waste and the consumption of recycled products.

From an ecological viewpoint, Liège intends to improve the life quality of its citizens. To reduce air pollution, the City will map out its urban heat spots to green up its spaces. It will also develop its transport offer and its cycle paths. The Team would also like to test a  “smart bin system” and a mobile app to report waste left on the streets.

To reduce housing carbon emissions, Liège is implementing an energy renovation programme. The City has prioritised increased energy efficiency of three sites. The City and its local energy agency, Liège-Energie, help citizens renovate their housing (individual and shared) through schemes such as Reno-Copro. (Other measures are listed on the Liège-Energie site.)

The city’s policy also includes a significant social component . Among other things, Liège intends to make its housing accessible to all. It also wants to develop emergency social housing. Finally, the City of Liège encourages inclusion through inter-neighbourhood collaboration and cultural development.

Sources: official Liège 2025 website; the city’s official website; interactive PDF Municipal Policy Statement 2018-2024; website of the Glasgow Declaration for Food and Climate; profile of the City of Liège on the website of the Mayors’ Convention for the Climate; website of the energy renovation project for co-owners; Reno-Copro;