https://www.wri.org/insights/denmark-agriculture-climate-policy
"Denmark’s groundbreaking new agriculture and climate policy, which taxes
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from livestock production, restores nature and
pays farmers to reduce nitrogen pollution, is the world’s most comprehensive
national effort to address the environmental challenges of agriculture.
Globally, agriculture and associated land use change contribute around one
quarter of GHG emissions. To keep global warming below 1.5 degrees C (2.7
degrees F) — or even under 2 degrees C (3.6 degrees F) — governments must take
ambitious action to reduce emissions from food systems. However, so far,
governments have only devoted a fraction of their efforts to reducing
agricultural emissions as they have for fossil-fuel emissions.
Agricultural emissions are particularly significant in Denmark. Today, they
contribute more than one quarter of Denmark’s GHG emissions, and with the
country’s expected measures to decarbonize energy and transport emissions,
agriculture could account for the majority of national emissions within a
decade. The country has set ambitious goals to reduce overall economy-wide
emissions by 70% by 2030.
Since 1990, Danish farmers have already made some progress by reducing excess
nitrogen use — which helps mitigate harmful nitrous oxide emissions — and by
increasing the efficiency of the dairy and pork sectors. But until recently, no
policy existed that would achieve the country’s announced goal to reduce
agricultural emissions by 55% to 65% by 2030.
In June 2024, Denmark announced a Green Tripartite Agreement between
government, the environmental community and the agriculture industry, which
combines regulatory teeth and largescale government funding to address
emissions. The comprehensive policy will simultaneously reduce the country’s
nitrogen pollution and improve biodiversity by restoring peatlands and planting
new forests.
These new measures complement Denmark’s previously announced efforts to
increase production of plant-based proteins and to reduce food loss and waste.
The capital city of Copenhagen, which has signed WRI’s Coolfood Pledge, reduced
its food procurement-related emissions by 25%, a year earlier than the original
2025 goal, by reducing its consumption of meat and shifting toward plant-based
foods. Taken together, these efforts make Denmark a leader in the
Produce-Protect-Reduce-Restore actions that WRI research has shown are
necessary to feed a growing world population while reducing GHG emissions and
restoring nature.
Here we take a closer look at why this new policy is so significant and how it
should serve as inspiration for other countries to create similar policies."
Via
Fix the News:
https://fixthenews.com/277-second-copernican-revolution/
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
