Police put the number of participants at the march, the latest in a series to be held in Brussels, at 45,000.
Energy crisis
After having its hopes dashed for a more ambitious deal last year in Brazil, the European Union is setting its sights low for next month’s COP31.
With climate sceptic Trump withdrawing the United States from the negotiations, international efforts to combat global warming had already taken a battering.
Now the situation looks even less promising. Surging energy prices have put major oil and gas producers in a position of strength that makes them less likely to want to discuss phasing out fossil fuels.
The EU insists it remains the global leader on climate action and is the principal international donor in the field.
But the bloc arrives at the COP having recently watered down its own environmental legislation.
As it struggles to compete with China and the United States, Brussels has been on an increasingly business-friendly push.
The most recent example last month was the commission proposing to postpone the implementation of a law targeting methane, an extremely polluting greenhouse gas, by one year, from 2027 to 2028.
