Environment, Energy, and Climate Policy: From Energy Supply to Climate Gasses

This chapter traces the evolution of Danish environmental, energy, and climate policy from the early 1970s until the late 2010s. Reacting to growing pollution during the 1960s, Parliament passed the ambitious Environmental Protection Act of 1973. This led to significant improvements in the regulation of pollution from industry and in wastewater treatment during the 1970s, but water pollution remained a problem, in part because of increasingly intensive use of agricultural land. From 1987 onwards, several action plans for the aquatic environment were launched, but meeting EU standards for water quality will require further efforts, as will the protection of habitats and biodiversity. For almost two decades following the first OPEC oil price shock, energy security was the overriding goal of energy policy. Aided by extensive regulation, oil was replaced by other sources of energy, and large increases in energy efficiency were achieved, partly via combined heat and power plants. From around 1990, reduction of greenhouse gas emissions took precedence, and in large part, fossil fuels have been replaced by wind power and biomass in the production of electricity and heating. Nevertheless, climate policy must face up to several new challenges if Denmark is to remain a green frontrunner nation.