Since the then Social Democratic government presented its climate program last year, Denmark has moved further away from reaching its first climate goal in 2025. This is shown by the SVM government's new climate program, which will be presented on Friday.
Last year, the assessment was that in order to reach the goal, agreements were needed that reduced emissions by 0.4-3.5 million tons of CO2-equivalents. But now it is estimated that measures with reductions of 0.5-3.7 million tons of CO2-equivalents must be agreed, which also includes gases such as methane.
- There is something that is pulling in the direction that it will go a little faster, and some things that are pulling in the opposite direction, explains Minister of Climate, Energy and Utilities Lars Aagaard (M).
Among other things, it will now take a little longer before the investment in storing CO2 underground is expected to pay off. In 2025, greenhouse gas emissions in Denmark must be 50-54 percent lower than in 1990, when they were 78.4 million tons of CO2-equivalents.
The government estimates that agreements have been made that mean that in 2025 it can be 49.3 percent. lower, and the last bit is being negotiated now. Here, the government wants to have mixed more biofuels in the car tanks to reach the target. However, it has been criticized by experts and politicians.
- We can handle the government's proposal with an executive order and it can be done very quickly, so we are not so pressed for time, says Lars Aagaard.
The Climate Council disagrees with the government
If you ask the independent advisors in the Climate Council, it is longer to reach the 2025 target than the government estimates in Friday's climate program.
In June, the council assessed that reductions of over 2 million tons were likely needed to reach the low end of the target.
The high end of the target was needed to reach reductions of over 5 million tons - over a tenth of the total emissions in Denmark in 2021.
Question: Who is right, Lars Aagaard?
- The government is, of course. We are relying on the advice we receive from the officials, says the minister.
The disagreement is whether the target should be calculated as an average of the years 2024-26 or only for 2025. The Council believes the former, the government the latter.
- The 2025 target has been calculated in all agreements as what is called a point target, and so has the 2030 target. We have not changed any principles, says the minister.
By 2030, Denmark must have reduced emissions by 70 percent. According to the climate program, a reduction of 5.4 million tons is needed to achieve this. Last year, approximately 5 million tons were needed.
/ritzau/
Text, graphics, images, sound, and other content on this website are protected under copyright law. DK Medier reserves all rights to the content, including the right to exploit the content for the purpose of text and data mining, cf. Section 11b of the Copyright Act and Article 4 of the DSM Directive.
Customers with IP agreements/major customer agreements may only share Danish Offshore Industry articles internally for the purpose of handling specific cases. Sharing in connection with specific cases refers to journaling, archiving, or similar uses.
Customers with a personal subscription/login may not share Danish Offshore Industry articles with individuals who do not themselves have a personal subscription to Danish Offshore Industry.
Any deviation from the above requires written consent from DK Medier.
