{"id":48525,"date":"2026-07-15T17:43:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T15:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/?p=48525"},"modified":"2026-07-16T09:12:29","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T07:12:29","slug":"brussels-promises-permanent-monument-for-climate-victims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/issues\/climate-energy\/48525\/brussels-promises-permanent-monument-for-climate-victims\/","title":{"rendered":"Brussels promises permanent monument for climate victims"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\u00a9 Tineke Dhaese \/ Oxfam <\/div><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

Brussels, 15 July 2026 \u2013 <\/strong>Brussels state secretary Ans Persoons has promised that there will be a permanent monument to commemorate the victims of the global climate crisis, in the city\u2019s EU quarter. She made the promise at a ceremony on the EU Day for the Victims of the Global Climate Crisis, organised by a coalition of civil society groups five years after the devastating 2021 European floods which killed at least 243 people in Europe, including at least 41 in Belgium.<\/p>\n\n

Photos of the ceremony are free to use here<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n

At the ceremony, survivors of the 2021 floods and of other climate disasters gave testimonies, and landscape architect Bas Smets presented his concept for the future monument. Activists built a symbolic sandbag barrier, and held a banner reading \u201cWords don\u2019t stop floods\u201d, urging the politicians present to take action to prevent future climate tragedies, as well as commemorating people who have already died.<\/p>\n\n

Greenpeace EU climate campaigner Thomas Gelin<\/strong> said: \u201cIt\u2019s tragic that we need a monument like this, and with more fatal climate disasters every year it will sadly only become more relevant, until governments and the EU take the action needed to turn the tide. Many victims of floods, fires, storms, heatwaves, droughts and other climate disasters go uncounted every year. Honouring those people today is important, but we must also push politicians to prevent future deaths by cutting climate pollution and restoring the nature that can protect us.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n

Founder and campaign lead of \u2018Climate Justice for Rosa\u2019, Benjamin Van Bunderen Robberechts,<\/strong> said: \u201cFive years ago, as a fourteen-year-old, I was taken completely by surprise when the water came, tearing Rosa out of my arms and taking her life. I later learned that scientists had been warning about this exact scenario for more than forty years, yet those in power chose to ignore them. Today, with climate disasters multiplying globally, ignorance is no longer an excuse. With this monument, we are forcing power to look reality in the eye, ensuring that the victims are never forgotten and that leaders remember their ultimate duty: to protect us.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n

The ceremony took place at Jardin de la Vall\u00e9e de Maelbeek, just metres away from the European Commission and European Council headquarters, as Europe baked in a heatwave. This followed another heatwave just weeks ago that broke temperature records across the continent and coincided with an estimated 14,000 excess deaths in the hardest-hit countries. <\/p>\n\n

The ceremony was initiated by Climate Justice for Rosa, and supported by Oxfam Belgium, Amnesty International, Klimaatcoalitie-Coalition Climat, R\u00e9seau Wallon de Lutte contre la Pauvret\u00e9 and Greenpeace. Since 2023, 15 July has been designated as the EU Day for the Victims of the Global Climate Crisis, the date chosen to coincide with the anniversary of the 2021 European floods.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While heatwaves in Europe lead to thousands of excess deaths, and five years after hundreds lost their lives in devastating floods in Belgium and Germany, the Brussels regional government has promised to erect a monument to all victims of climate change. The ceremony was held on the EU Day for the Victims of the Global Climate Crisis. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":48528,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"p4_og_title":"","p4_og_description":"","p4_og_image":"","p4_og_image_id":"","p4_seo_canonical_url":"","p4_campaign_name":"","p4_local_project":"","p4_basket_name":"","p4_department":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,4],"tags":[22,23,33,49],"p4-page-type":[14],"class_list":["post-48525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-climate-energy","category-democracy-europe","tag-climatechange","tag-democracy","tag-justice","tag-peoplepower","p4-page-type-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48525"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48525\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48530,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48525\/revisions\/48530"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48525"},{"taxonomy":"p4-page-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/p4-page-type?post=48525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}