If the Danes Can Do it Why Don't We? (December 24, 2009)

Among others, New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman was in Copenhagen during the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. However, his December 22^nd column of just over 800 words wasn't about UNFCCC, rather he was summarising what Denmark itself  (population 5½ million) is doing to reduce its carbon footprint. Funny that, Denmark is leading from the front while Australia's politicians (population 21.3 million) keep telling the world that it's punching above its weight in just about everything.

So -- the Denmark according to Mr Friedman:

The Danes looked at themselves after the 1973 Arab oil embargo.

“Already the green taxes here are quite high,” said [Danish Minister of Economic and Business Affairs, Lene] Espersen. “And even though we know this is not popular with business and industry, it has made all the difference for us. It forced our businesses to become more energy efficient and innovative, and this meant that, suddenly, we were inventing things nobody else was inventing because our businesses needed to be competitive.”

Although it still generates the majority of its electricity from coal, “since 1990, Denmark has reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 14 percent.

Over the same time frame, Danish energy consumption has stayed constant and Denmark’s gross domestic product has grown by more than 40 percent.

Denmark is the most energy efficient country in the E.U.; due to carbon pricing, through energy taxes, carbon taxes, the ‘cap and trade’ system, strict building codes and energy labelling programs.

Renewable resources currently supply almost 30 percent of Denmark’s electricity.

Wind power is the largest source of renewable electricity, followed by biomass.

Copenhagen puts only 3 percent of its waste into landfills and incinerates 39 percent to generate electricity for thousands of households.

Mr Friedman notes that Monica Prasad, a faculty fellow at Northwestern University’s Institute for Policy Research wrote in The New York Times in March last year that the Danish government funnels energy tax revenue “back to industry, earmarking much of it to subsidize environmental innovation. Danish firms are pushed away from carbon and pulled into environmental innovation, and the country’s economy isn’t put at a competitive disadvantage.”

And he points out that some of the leading wind, biofuel and heating, cooling and efficiency companies in the world are Danish and energy technologies are now 11 percent of Denmark’s exports. Furthermore, he says: "...energy taxes also subsidize mass transit and energy efficiency, keeping bills low for Danish consumers."

Then Mr Friedman asked how come Danish politicians have the bottle "to do the right things — even if painful," while America's are gutless or worse.

Ida Auken, a spokeswoman for the Danish green/socialist party, S.F. gave him this for an answer:

We don’t have a lot of resources. We have a welfare state that we have to keep up, so we have to think forward all the time and not get stuck in the past. That is where we get the courage. And we have seen it work for 30 years. It is good business. Danish contractors are begging for strict standards on buildings because they know that if they can become efficient and meet them here, they can compete anywhere in the whole world.

And we note in passing currently unemployment in Denmark is about 4 percent.

Australia's current rate of unemployment stands at 5.7 percent.

Denmark's  per capita GDP (PPP) = $37,200 ranks 30 in the world

Australia's per capita GDP (PPP) = $38,200 ranks 24 in the world