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PRETS: Protections and Socio-ecological Risks in Transitions

Prets

Context: Building Social-Ecological Protection for a Just Transition

Our production and consumption patterns have been profoundly destabilising the biosphere for decades, exacerbating existing vulnerabilities and causing new risks that are increasingly threatening social and political stability across the globe.

These risks, referred to as social-ecological risks, can be grouped into two categories:

  • Biophysical transformation risks are linked to the social effects of extreme events (e.g., floods, heatwaves, pandemics) and slow-onset events (e.g., rising sea levels) that result from the anthropogenic destabilisation of the biosphere. 

  • Socio-technical transition risks are linked to the social effects of responses to biophysical transformation risks. They cover not only the direct effects of environmental policies (e.g., introduction of low-emission zones, housing thermal renovation grants, energy or carbon taxes), but also the indirect effects of these policies (e.g., reconfiguration of the labour market, changes in the availability and cost of goods).

When they materialise, these risks are likely to cause losses and damage in social and ecological systems which, by altering the well-being of vulnerable groups, can exacerbate social inequalities and lead to injustice. From a just transition perspective, it is therefore essential to expand the boundaries of social protection and to design appropriate collective protection mechanisms to mitigate social-ecological risks — in other words, to build social-ecological protection.

Research on Social-Ecological Protection in Belgium

Rethinking and building social protection calibrated for the social-ecological challenges of our time requires addressing the following question: How can we collectively respond to the materialization of social risks arising from rapidly accelerating environmental problems?

The PRETS project addresses this question in the context of Belgian multi-level governance, by proposing an analytical framework designed to make social-ecological risk — and the social-ecological protection that could cover it — operational for Belgian public policies.


A Transdisciplinary Approach Bridging Law and Ecological Economics

The project builds on the work of the High Committee for a Just Transition, a group of 25 academics who published, in November 2023, a reference report on the just transition in Belgium. The research team – several of whose members contributed to this work – brings together legal scholars specialized in social and environmental law, as well as researchers in ecological economics. This original configuration made it possible to develop an interdisciplinary approach to social-ecological risk and protection.

The team's expertise was enriched by a participatory workshop bringing together representatives from social security organisations and several Federal Public Services (FPS). This exchange made it possible to understand how field actors perceive social-ecological risks and the challenges they pose to social protection in Belgium.

Finally, an international public seminar dedicated to discussing the initial findings contributed to refining the research and enriching it with foreign examples, notably drawn from the work of the International Labour Organization (ILO), the International Social Security Association (ISSA), and France Stratégie.



Avenues for Social Security Reform in Line with a Just Transition

The project aims to feed into the debate on the advent of social-ecological protection in Belgium through three main contributions:

  • a "social-ecological risk matrix", an original tool for characterising these risks and supporting the development of social-ecological protection policies;

  • prospects for transforming social security towards a social-ecological protection that meets the imperatives of a just transition;

  • the definition of the guiding principles of governance and the concrete instruments needed to implement this social-ecological protection.

Based on this work, a series of recommendations has been developed, organized around seven axes for institutionalizing social-ecological protection in Belgium: 

  • Democratise the design and implementation of social-ecological protection

  • Pool collective protection functions to cope with social-ecological risks

  • Institutionalise the social-ecological risk matrix as part of an "Observatory of Just Transitions" in Belgium   

  • Review the actuarial bases that support the balance of social protection in the light of social-ecological risks

  • Make social protection benefits and organisations compatible with planetary boundaries  

  • Lobby the European Union to establish a framework that facilitates the construction of social-ecological security systems

  • Develop knowledge and skills to recognise and respond to social-ecological risks, multiple vulnerabilities and basic needs

They Talk About PRETS

The report, published in late August 2025, has been widely covered in the media and by institutional channels.  

Press:

 Radio:

Institutional channels:

Press release:

Additional interviews are scheduled and will soon complement this press review. Since its publication, the study has generated strong interest among a wide range of stakeholders, notably within the political sphere: several parties have invited the research team to present its findings.



PRETS in Scientific Debates

 The research carried out within the project has also been presented and discussed at several scientific seminars and conferences dedicated to social-ecological risks and protection:


Publications

Funding

Federal Public Service (FPS) Social Security

Période

Mai 2024 – janvier 2025

Consortium

  • Coordinator
Université Catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain),
    
  • Partners        

Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB)

Sciences Po Paris

 

Themes

  • Social protection,
  • Social-ecological risk,
  • Sustainable welfare,
  • Just transition,
  • Wellbeing economy,
  • Transition governance,
  • Belgium

Chercheurs

  • Prof. Pascale Vielle (UCLouvain - IACCHOS), Project Coordinator
  • Dr. Aurore Fransolet (ULB - SONYA)
  • Dr. Éloi Laurent (Sciences Po Paris - OFCE)
  • Prof. Chiara Armeni (ULB - CDE)
  • Sacha Henet (UCLouvain - CRIDES)
  • Prof. Tom Bauler (ULB - SONYA)
  • Prof. Auriane Lamine (UCLouvain - CRIDES)
  • Prof. Filip Dorssemont (UCLouvain - CRIDES)
  • Dr. Kimberley Vandenhole (ULB – SONYA)

Liens

 
Updated on September 30, 2025