Brussels bets on the Donut

The Brussels Capital Region in Belgium has embraced the Doughnut as a tool for guiding the region's post-coronavirus recovery and its transition to a sustainable and thriving economy. 

The initiative, launched on 28th September, aims to generate and discuss innovative solutions to current challenges faced by residents in the city region, all through the lenses of the Doughnut City Portrait - looking at both social and ecological issues, with local and global impacts. 

The process will be participatory: it will include the knowledge and experience of groups involved in leading the region’s transition, but also city residents who are driven by their own experience of living in the city region. Government offices will also be part of the process, as the initiative aims at creating a “guiding tool” which will help them screen their future decision-making through the prism of the Donut and ensure that the Brussels Capital Region solidly anchors the transition of its economy towards prosperity for all and for the planet.

“The Donut is a great educational tool which will allow as many people as possible to understand the environmental limits of our planet and the minimum social needs that must be met for a prosperous and balanced life,” said Barbara Trachte, Secretary of State for Economic Transition and Scientific Research, “Applying the Donut to the Brussels Region will also allow us to set up economic instruments to drive and accelerate the transition that the government is committed to.”

If you wish to find out more about this participatory adventure, please visit www.donut.brussels.

Read news articles covering the story in more detail in French in Le Soir and RTBF and in Dutch in Bruzz and De Standaard.