Belgium’s Climate and Energy Crossroads: Harvests, CO2, Gas

Belgium is confronting a trio of interconnected environmental and energy challenges as of mid-July 2026. Farmers are bringing in harvests up to a month earlier than four decades ago, a Walloon startup is pioneering affordable carbon capture technology, and the country’s gas reserves stand at just 25 percent capacity — raising alarm bells ahead of what analysts warn could be a difficult winter. These three stories, while distinct, are bound together by the twin forces of climate change and geopolitical instability.

Early Harvests Signal a Shifting Climate

Harvest season in Belgium has arrived weeks ahead of historical norms, a trend that agricultural experts attribute directly to climate change. According to RTBF, crops are now being reaped approximately 15 days earlier than the average of the last decade, and up to a full month earlier than 40 years ago.

Daniel Delvaux, an agricultural entrepreneur celebrating his 50th season in the fields, described the accelerating timeline. “It’s about 15 days compared to what we saw in the last ten years, on average,” he told RTBF. “If we talk about 20, 30 or 40 years ago, we’re practically three weeks to a month earlier.”

The early harvest brings its own set of pressures. Farmers like Mathieu Comijn face the dual challenge of adapting to a shifting climate while competing on a global grain market where production costs in other regions are significantly lower. “Cereals are traded on the stock exchange at a global price,” Comijn noted. “For us, cereals are really a necessary evil for crop rotation. In terms of profitability, it’s not great.”

Guillaume Vanvinckenroye, administrator of grain trader Dock-Moulin in Oteppe, said his company expects to receive approximately 60,000 tons of wheat this season. Most will go to bioethanol production, with significant portions destined for animal feed and human consumption. The harvest is expected to be complete within about ten days, just in time for the Libramont Fair — Belgium’s premier agricultural event — at the end of July.

Belgium’s agricultural sector has been under mounting pressure from extreme weather in recent years. The Brussels Times reported catastrophic harvests in 2024 due to prolonged rainfall, and climate projections from the Climate Centre Belgium suggest the country’s agricultural conditions could resemble those of Southern France within decades.

A Belgian Startup Takes on the CO2 Challenge

While climate change accelerates the harvest calendar, a Louvain-la-Neuve-based startup is working on a technological solution to one of its root causes. ARK Capture Solutions has developed a fully electric hybrid carbon capture technology that it says can reduce CO2 capture costs by 50 percent compared to traditional solvent-based methods.

As reported by De Morgen, the company targets low-concentration CO2 emissions — known as “Tier 2” emissions — which represent approximately 50 percent of global industrial output but have lacked economically viable capture solutions. “Our method only uses electricity, without toxic substances,” development engineers Marnix Waterschoot and Fanni Sypaseuth told De Morgen.

Founded in mid-2024, ARK raised €2.2 million in pre-seed funding by March 2025, as Tech.eu reported. The company is a key partner in the CO2 DISRUPT project — a €5.6 million ($6.5 million) initiative backed by the Walloon Region, according to Carbon Herald. Industrial partners include Aperam, ArcelorMittal Industeel Belgium, and Cinergie, with research support from KU Leuven and the University of Mons.

ARK’s pilot unit, capable of capturing 50 tonnes of CO2 per year, started operations in August 2025, with pilots running on client sites by March 2026. The company won Gold in the Impact Category at the Belgium Startup Awards in June 2026. The global CO2 capture equipment market is projected at €1.6 trillion (~$1.85 trillion) between 2030 and 2050.

Gas Reserves at Critical Low

The third piece of Belgium’s environmental puzzle is energy security. The country’s underground gas storage at Loenhout is only about 25 percent full — a dramatic decline from 62.21 percent at the same point in 2025, according to De Morgen. Across the European Union, storage levels sit at approximately 35.36 percent, down from 42.47 percent a year earlier.

The situation has prompted the EU to relax its storage target from 90 percent by November 1 to 80 percent by December 1, 2026. But Belgium’s modest storage capacity — roughly 8 TWh, covering only about 5 percent of annual gas demand — leaves the country particularly exposed.

Several factors explain the low reserves. A negative summer-winter price spread means traders lose money by storing gas for winter use. Ongoing conflict in the Strait of Hormuz has disrupted LNG supply routes, while Asian markets are outbidding Europe for available cargoes. The war in Iran, which began in early 2026, has added a major geopolitical shock to global energy markets.

Energy consultant Dieter Jong noted the rapid reversal of fortunes: “Until a few weeks ago, there was even a fear of structural oversupply, but now we’re facing shortages.” Johan Albrecht, an energy economist at Ghent University, offered a more measured perspective, pointing out that while gas prices have risen sharply since the start of the war in Iran, they remain only slightly above January 2025 levels.

Fluxys, the operator of the Loenhout facility, has said there is “no reason to panic,” noting that private traders including ENI and Engie control the injection timing. However, energy buyer Matthias Detremmerie warned that if the 90 percent target is not met, government subsidies may be introduced — potentially landing on consumer bills.

The Interconnected Picture

These three stories are deeply interwoven. Climate change drives both the early harvests and the urgency for CO2 capture technology. Energy security concerns and climate policy represent two sides of Belgium’s energy transition challenge. And the war in Iran simultaneously threatens energy supplies while accelerating the need for decarbonization.

As Belgium’s farmers adapt to a warming world, its innovators race to scale the technologies needed to curb emissions, and its energy planners confront the realities of geopolitical disruption, the country finds itself at a pivotal moment. The coming months — from the Libramont Fair to the December 1 storage deadline — will reveal how effectively Belgium can navigate these converging pressures.