The Walloon Government has approved the final version of the measures under the Walloon strand of the Social Climate Plan concerning housing, sustainable mobility and micro-enterprises. The aim is to support vulnerable families and micro-enterprises while accelerating the energy transition.
Wallonia activates its Social Climate Plan
Under the Social Climate Fund set up by the European Union for the period 2026-2032, Belgium receives an overall envelope of €1.66 billion.
The Walloon share amounts to a total of €729.3 million mobilised between 2027 and 2032: €546.9 million in European funding supplemented by €182.3 million in co-financing from the Walloon Region (25%).
This funding will operate on a results-based logic, similar to the National Recovery and Resilience Plan: European funds will be released once the targets and milestones set out in the measure sheets are achieved and validated by the European Commission.
€50 million for micro-enterprises
Wallonia will roll out an enhanced Easy Green scheme, managed by Wallonie Entreprendre. The measure aims to provide financial support to micro-enterprises made vulnerable by the introduction of ETS2 in their energy renovation work on buildings, heating equipment or vehicles. The goal is to support micro-enterprises (fewer than 10 employees) weakened by rising energy costs. The scheme is worth €50 million.
The support will combine:
- A subordinated loan with a term of up to 15 years;
- A flat-rate grant equivalent to 30% of the investment (which will be deducted from the loan's monthly instalments).
The objectives of this scheme are:
- Support for the energy renovation of vulnerable micro-enterprises: making unsanitary buildings habitable through improvement works such as insulation, heating…
- Support for the energy transition: encouraging the replacement of energy-intensive equipment with more efficient non-fossil technologies, or the installation of renewable energy and storage technologies.
- Encouraging low-emission mobility: replacing internal combustion vehicles, installing charging infrastructure.
Around 2,500 investments are expected over the period, with an average investment estimated at €20,000 per company.
€78 million to develop on-demand transport
The measure aims to support the development of on-demand transport services for vulnerable transport users and to offer alternatives to the car.
The aim is, on the one hand, to fund on-demand public transport services in Wallonia in poorly served areas with a high density of vulnerable groups, and on the other, to support private and public operators with a social purpose:
- Gradual rollout by TEC of new services operated with 60 (electric) vehicles, to offer a flexible mobility solution in areas poorly or not served by regular public transport (train or bus);
- Strengthening of the existing on-demand transport service with a social purpose, namely the “social taxis” operated by CPAS, municipalities and associations, and the gradual electrification of the vehicle fleet used by social-purpose transport operators.
A voucher for the transition to sustainable mobility
The measure, with a budget of €193 million, aims to support the most vulnerable families facing rising mobility costs: it involves granting financial aid, in the form of a “mobility voucher”, to Walloon households considered vulnerable to transport poverty, to help them move towards more sustainable mobility. This is a new measure, never before implemented in Wallonia. This aid would be provided via the CPAS.
Each family can receive an amount of up to a maximum of €4,000 (over a total period of 4 years), depending on the composition of their household and their mobility needs, to finance in particular:
- Public transport;
- Use of a social taxi;
- A car-sharing service;
- The purchase of a bicycle or scooter (manual or electric), etc.
The aim is to offset the rise in costs linked to ETS2 while promoting the shift towards more sustainable mobility.
Almost €400 million to accelerate the renovation of public housing
An investment of almost €400 million will make it possible to amplify the action of the Société wallonne du Logement via a mechanism known as a “drawing right”.
The main aim of the investment with the Social Climate Fund is to continue the renovation of public utility housing, including the decarbonisation of heating systems and domestic hot water production, thereby enabling energy renovation. At least 3,100 public utility housing units are involved. This is about responding more broadly to the growing demand for accessible, comfortable and energy-efficient public utility housing.
93 homes renovated in the German-speaking Community
The social housing association for the German-speaking Community, Öffentliche Wohnungsbaugesellschaft Ostbelgien (ÖWOB) GmbH, will lead the energy renovation of 93 social housing units among the most energy-intensive, thereby improving the comfort and standard of living of social tenants and vulnerable households, for a total budget of €8.77 million.