Future climate policy in Denmark will affect everyday life much more.
Both the citizens and the country’s politicians must adjust to this and communicate in the right way.
That’s what it says from the Climate Council’s representative, Peter Møllgaard, who is principal at Copenhagen Business School.
The reason is that the Climate Council, the government’s green watchdog, published a new analysis on Friday.
Here, the council is looking forward to the “next milestone” in climate policy: A 2035 reduction target.
It appears from the climate act from 2020, when the 2030 target of a 70 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions was adopted, that the act must be revised in 2025.
The revision includes that Christiansborg must adopt a 2035 target.
In the analysis, the Climate Council examines how Denmark can increase the reductions to 80, 85 and 90 percent respectively compared to 1990.
But the council and chairman Peter Møllgaard will not make a direct recommendation to the Folketing, as it “depends on a political balance in the end”.
– However, we come up with some arguments for aiming for more than an 80 percent reduction. It is about the critical state of the climate, but also the climate act’s ambition for Denmark to be a leading country, says Peter Møllgaard.
He also points out that it already appears today that Denmark will reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 78 percent by 2035.
On the other hand, the concept of “a fair transition” plays a part in the council’s analysis.
Because it cannot be avoided that future climate measures “will become more citizen-friendly”, believes Peter Møllgaard.
– Now we have approximately reached 50 percent reductions compared to 1990 – so we are halfway there, you could say. But we have taken many of the reductions that are not particularly close to citizens with a few exceptions. A lot has been going on far away.
– Now it is starting to move closer to the citizens, and therefore it is also more important that the politicians consider what we call a fair transition. That it is perceived as fair by different groups. It is across geography, generations and income levels, he says.
Peter Møllgaard mentions as an example that it can be important for citizens where gas storages are placed if the use of the climate technology CCS, capture and storage of CO2, is increased.
The placement of solar cells and wind turbines as well as changes in the agricultural industry and nature are also mentioned as examples.
It is therefore important that politicians, alongside climate measures, consider how citizens who feel exposed can possibly be compensated, and how this is communicated to citizens, it says.
In the analysis, the Climate Council also points to places where the next reductions can be found, depending on which reduction target is chosen.
This includes, among other things, increased extraction of agricultural land and restructuring of livestock production in agriculture.
The government has not yet come up with its bid for a Danish 2035 climate target.
/ritzau/
Source: www.kristeligt-dagblad.dk
