Pact partner: Leuven 2030

About Leuven 2030

Co-founded in 2013 by the City of Leuven, the university (KU Leuven), and more than 50 other public and private actors, Leuven 2030 has since grown to include over 550 members. Leuven 2030 is a quadruple-helix organization, representing local government, knowledge institutions, companies, and civil society/citizens.

In 2019, Leuven 2030 completed its Roadmap 2025 · 2035 · 2050, a comprehensive document outlining the path to a carbon-neutral, resilient Leuven that was co-created by 60 local experts and endorsed by 15 key stakeholders, including the city, the university, the Chamber of Commerce, the regional bus operator, and system operator Fluvius. A shared vision for Leuven’s future, the Roadmap is structured into 13 programs and sets the overall direction for Leuven’s climate efforts. To implement the Roadmap, Leuven 2030 enlisted a team of 17 program facilitators, drawn from within its network and covering a wide range of societal actors.

Program 10 of the Roadmap is dedicated to climate adaptation and resilience. It aims to preserve and expand Leuven’s green spaces, preserve open spaces (to allow for water infiltration), enhance biodiversity in the built environment, mitigate the heat-island effect, and increase resilience to heavy rainfall and droughts. To implement Program 10, Leuven 2030 seeks to activate and engage all stakeholders in the Leuven community and enable them to take accelerated action towards increased resilience and adaptability.

Role of Leuven 2030

The PACT project was elaborated and submitted together with Leuven 2030. “With the Roadmap we drew up a strong plan to make our city climate neutral and thus no longer contribute to global warming in the long run. Yet in that scenario, too, we will feel the impact of this disruption in Leuven,” says Katrien Rycken, director of Leuven 2030. “Shaping the city in a way that anticipates this will therefore be crucial to keep life in Leuven attractive and pleasant. . The fact that the city of Leuven and Leuven 2030 have managed to secure this much-coveted subsidy together will provide a significant boost to the plans for this in Leuven. It also shows once again that our outspoken choice to join forces in Leuven is bearing fruit for an accelerated evolution towards a climate neutral city.”