After Taking On Trump, Danish PM Doubles Down on Green Power
After Taking On Trump, Danish PM Doubles Down on Green Power
(Bloomberg) -- Denmark’s prime minister made international headlines last month when she refused to sell Greenland to President Donald Trump.
Now, the 41-year-old leader of a Social Democratic government is trying to shake up her country’s green energy landscape by doubling the goal for state spending on research into renewable sources of power.
Mette Frederiksen, who has been prime minister of Denmark since June, said on Tuesday she expects her country’s businesses to contribute to the initiative, which will get 2.18 billion kroner ($322 million) in state funds by 2022, or twice as much as previously set aside. Much of the focus will be on studies exploring ways to reduce the carbon footprint in the transport and agriculture sectors.
“I don’t think it has ever happened before in Denmark that we double funding for targeted green research,” Frederiksen said in an interview after delivering a speech at the Confederation of Danish Industry in Copenhagen. “This is a good start, but it’s not our final destination.”
The Danish initiative comes as governments around the world grow more concerned about the effects of climate change. Those fears intensified in June as scientists warned that Greenland is melting at a record pace. More recently, the world’s focus was on wild fires destroying vast tracts of the Amazon forest in Brazil.
Trump Tried to Buy Greenland:
The U.S. president stunned the Danes last month when it emerged he was seriously interested in buying Greenland, which is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. When Frederiksen rebuffed his approach, Trump attacked the Danish prime minister on Twitter. Not long after, Trump was on the phone with Frederiksen to ensure that Danish-U.S. relations were still intact, and the Danish premier had survived her first major diplomatic spat.
Frederiksen unveiled her plan as Denmark set a record in its use of wind power. On Sunday, for the first time ever, Danish wind turbines generated more electricity than the country’s inhabitants were able to consume.
The Confederation of Danish Industry said it broadly backed the government’s plans, but it also put forward its own proposals. These call for spending the equivalent of 1.5% of gross domestic product on green research, instead of the 1% estimated by the government’s latest plan. The lobby group said its own proposal would create 120,000 jobs in the private sector and add 110 billion kroner to the economy.
Frederiksen won the June elections in part by pledging ambitious environmental targets, such as reducing emissions by 70% from their 1990 levels by 2030. That compares with a European Union reduction target of 40%.
Frederiksen even sought to appease the concerns of those worried about socialism, telling business leaders attending her presentation that it’s only through private enterprise that her goal of boosting employment can be reached.
“As a social democrat I know everything about the importance of a strong business community,” she said.
Read More About Trump and Wind Energy:
The Trump administration cast the fate of his nation’s first major offshore wind farm into doubt by extending an environmental review for the $2.8 billion Vineyard Wind project off Massachusetts. The Interior Department has ordered an additional study of the farm, proposed by Avangrid Inc. and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, Interior Secretary David Bernhardt said in an interview with Bloomberg News Friday. The project, which has drawn opposition from fishermen and coastal communities, had been scheduled to be operational by early 2022. The developers have warned that regulatory delays could put it in jeopardy. (Aug. 10)
To contact the reporter on this story: Morten Buttler in Copenhagen at mbuttler@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Christian Wienberg at cwienberg@bloomberg.net, Tasneem Hanfi Brögger, Nick Rigillo
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