Latest publication: Status update report 2021: Denmark´s national and international climate efforts

The new Danish Climate Act from June 2020 stipulates that the Danish Climate Change Council (DCCC) is to make annual recommendations for and provide a status update on the Government´s climate efforts.

In its resent status update the DCCC concluded that despite a number of climate policy agreements between the Government and the Parliament,  it is not likely that the Government will achieve the target of a 70-percent reduction of greenhouse gases by 2030. The primary reason for this is that the Government has not made a concrete plan for how to fill two thirds of the emissions reduction gap remaining after implementation of the agreements adopted, the DCCC argues. Furthermore, the Government largely bases the remaining effort on new technologies without a proper plan on how to achieve the reductions.

The conclusion is followed by a set of recommendation by the DCCC. The Council recommends the Government to develop a national strategy on Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) as soon as possibly. The Council also recommends that the Government adopts additional policy measures in order to achieve extra emission reductions. Furthermore, the Council recommends the Government to ensure the implementation of a general greenhouse gas tax, which could support a cost-efficient fulfillment of Denmark`s climate objectives. Finally, the Council on Climate Change recommends a higher price on climate effects in socio-economic calculations and an accelerated re-wetting of drained peat soils.

The status update concludes that Denmark is close at fulfilling current EU energy- and climate obligations for 2030 by means of the policy agreements adopted in the recent year. Additional efforts are required to meet the Non-ETS obligation, though fulfillment of the 70 percent target is very likely to deliver on this obligation too. Expectedly, the EU will increase its overall reduction target for 2030 from 40 percent to at least 55 percent, and this might imply that Denmark and other Member States will be met with tighter obligations than today. Read More