On 5 December 2018 an official agreement was made between the Airport of Liege and the Chinese online shopping platform Alibaba [1]. This company was founded in 1999 and is dominating e-commerce, its annual net income for 2021 was $22,9 billion US dollars which is an increase of 8,83% from 2020 [2]. This still growing group is investing in many subsidiaries that provide products like cloud computing, entertainment and artificial intelligence. The e-commerce is focused on people from all over the world and is reaching more and more people in Europe. 

Therefore, the Alibaba group is looking to expand and has chosen for the airport of Liege to do so. The subsidiary which is called Cainiao wants to establish its first logistic hub near the airport. The airport of Liège was chosen because it is such an interesting location to distribute products around Europe and also night flights are allowed here [3]. They are planning to place warehouses that would originally take up to 380.000m² of land but this is reduced to 150.000 m² [4]. The CEO of Liège ’s airport approved the official agreement in consultation with the Walloon Region and the Belgian federal government without consultation of the local actors [5]. 

The arrival of Cainiao will have a big impact on the airport and its environment. The trafficking of goods will increase severely, which will expand the use of airplanes, trucks, and storage space. This development will have an impact on the neighbours, the environment and the biodiversity on a local and global level. Although it is still not clear what the effects will be since there is still no research done to map out the effects of this expansion. Similarly, no research was conducted on the cost for the society due to new public infrastructure, public health and well-being. Furthermore, the region will also be impacted because local cropland will be destroyed in order to build the necessary infrastructure, which will interfere with local biodiversity. 

The new activities around the airport of Liège will cause a lot of emissions. It is well known that CO2 contributes to global warming. Moreover, local residents’ health will be impacted due to emissions of nitrogen oxides, which cause air pollution. A study from 2020 showed that nitrogen oxides have caused 1500 premature deaths in Belgium [6]. Furthermore, the development of freight transport induces noise pollution during the day and the night. This has consequences for the local residents in the form of a decrease in sleep quality, raises stress levels and increases the risk for depression.   

Another issue is that the government supports the consumer society. E-commerce is associated with over-packaging, low quality products and low pricing products made in doubtable work conditions. The big e-commerce companies create unfair competition by introducing low price products, which are no competition for local entrepreneurs. Therefore, the government doesn’t support sustainable local shopping. 

A main driving force for the arrival of Alibaba is the creation of jobs. However, there is a big controversy over the amount and quality of the jobs. Originally 3000 jobs were going to be created, 900 direct and 2100 indirect jobs, but because the investment is smaller than originally planned there is much doubt about these numbers [4]. It is also known that Cainiao invests in automation in distribution centra: in their sorting sections, they already use AGV-robots which are self-riding vehicles [7]. Furthermore, the working conditions are not ideal, in this sector speed of work and flexibility are key to their success. This is hard physical labour and includes nightshifts and weekend work. 

It is needless to say that the agreement made on the 5th of December caused for a lot of controversy and protest. Before the official signing there was some protest from rival colleagues of Alibaba. FedEx was not amused by the news since they are located at the airport for almost 2 decades and were planning to locate their second-biggest distribution hub in Liège by 2040 [8]. Yet, eventually, the stakeholders went for a deal with Alibaba. 

When the agreement was made public a lot of locals were shocked since there was no previous communication with the neighbours. Right after that, there was a civil movement against the extension of the airport. On the 6th of April in 2019 the civil movement “Watching Alibaba” was made public on the internet by creating their own website and Facebook page [10] [11]. Their goal is to inform the world about this project and fight against it and in particular the establishment of Alibaba. Via their website and socials they organise petitions, direct actions as well as responses to public inquiries, citizen interpellations, search for supporters and allies etc.  

On the 17th of September 2020 a second civil movement arose called: “Stop Alibaba & Co” [12] [13].  This front is made up of several collectives and citizens who fight against the establishment of Alibaba and the extension of Liège airport in general. Furthermore, they stand against the economic model and the ethics of companies such as Alibaba. They organise information sessions but mainly various actions on the street. Watching Alibaba and Stop Alibaba & Co are supported by international institutions like Greenpeace, Extinction Rebellion and Attac.  

In late September 2019 Cainiao presented the legal permits for the first of three warehouses. They asked for a warehouse with the size of 30.000m² on a property of 220.000m² [15]. A half-year later, in April 2020 they received the green light to start the construction of the first distribution center. Despite some protest actions no steps were undertaken to invest in the real environmental impact of the extension. In September 2020 Stop Alibaba & Co were demonstrating for showing their support to the opposition in the municipal council. The council is calling for an impact study on the development of the airport. Other municipalities have decided to go to court to obtain this impact study [16] [17]. 

At the beginning of October 2020 Cainiao started building the distribution centre. The protest became more visible and apparent in the neighbourhood of Liège. These protests were not only focusing on Alibaba but also on the economic models that Alibaba and other multinationals introduce. Protesters were claiming that there needs to be a change in the system to limit the environmental impact and pollution [18] [19]. In November 2021 there was a demonstration in Liège with around 250 people against Alibaba and the airport expansion [20]. In addition, a campaign is started to put pressure on the Belgian ministers by sending e-mails to demand a moratorium on the development of the Liège airport [21]. Already 17.000 emails have been sent to the ministers.  

This conflict is rising as more and more people are participating in the Stop Alibaba & Co movement. Also, climate change is becoming more visible in the region of Liège. Last year the province was the biggest victim of the floods causing 1.700 people to evacuate [22]. This conflict is far from over and will emerge even more if Alibaba is planning to build two other warehouses. 

Alibaba plans to invest 100 million euros for the expansion of the Liège airport for their distribution hub. Which will take place up to 150.000m² and will create 900 direct and 2100 indirect jobs in the region of Liège.