Brussels (Brussels Morning Newspaper) -Starting from 1 March 2025, all doors in heated and cooled shops throughout the Brussels region need to remain sealed. According to the law, shop doors need to remain shut as part of the current restrictions. A decision to implement this measure went into effect as early as January under the guidance of the Brussels government.
All heated and cooled shops in the Brussels region have to maintain their doors tightly sealed starting on March 1, 2025, under the new energy-saving requirements. The Brussels government implemented this decision in January to avoid energy waste by stopping hot and cold air leaks through unsecured doors. This requirement extends to all shops and catering facilities operating in the Brussels region.
“It’s a waste to leave the doors open when the heating is on. It’s such a waste, so I think it’s a good measure,”
Says a mother with her son.
But not everyone agrees. Traders believe that a closed door increases the threshold to enter.
“As a citizen, I understand the measure, but as a shop owner, it is more difficult. Because you really see that people come to take a look more quickly if the door is open.”
What is the history behind Brussels’ energy-saving measures?
A Brussels-wide shop door closure policy emerged as part of an initiative to combat both high energy waste and consumption levels. The French-speaking government implemented this measure for the first time during the winter of 2022-2023 when Europe faced an intense energy crisis.
The energy crisis in Belgium led to an unprecedented rise in electricity costs, which peaked at €400 per megawatt-hour in August of 2022. The effectiveness of this short-term shift in energy behaviour led Brussels officials to adopt the measure on an ongoing basis starting from March 1 2025.
The Belgian government continues its effort to enhance energy efficiency because commercial energy consumption in 2022 amounted to 12% of the national total. This measure supports the European Union’s objective of achieving an 11.7% decrease in energy use by 2030, according to the EU Energy Efficiency Directive.
