The Flemish Government has succeeded in raising municipal participation in municipal co-operation agreements (MCA) and thus strengthen the Flemish environment policy. However, municipalities are insufficiently encouraged to achieve environmental aims. The subsidy mechanism relies on numbers of inhabitants, rather than achievements of the municipalities. Within the scope of the MCA municipalities frequently engage themselves in the field of energy. However, the Flemish Government lacks sufficient information to be able to evaluate whether the MCA leads to a diminishing consumption of energy and an increase of the part of renewable energy therein.
