Denmark’s climate target is too dependent on unproven technology, government council says

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – Denmark risks falling short of its ambitious goal of cutting carbon emissions by 70% by 2030 because it is too dependent on unproven technology, an independent council monitoring the effort said on Friday.

The Nordic country has set itself one of the most ambitious and legally binding climate targets in the world by 2020 – reducing CO2 emissions by 70% by 2030 from 1990 levels, but its government has failed yet developed a detailed plan on how to achieve this goal. .

With current government initiatives, Denmark is on track to reduce its emissions by 7.2 million tonnes by 2030, well below the 20 million tonnes forecast, said an independent council set up to monitor progress in a report.

The government said in September that 9 to 16.5 million tonnes could be reduced by using new technologies such as carbon capture storage and the use of wind turbines to power hydrogen power plants, which will be used by the heavy industry, shipping and air transport.

But progress on these technologies has “not reached a high enough level” to meet the 2030 target, with two-thirds of advances in these technologies posing a “high risk” of not being developed in time to sufficiently reduce emissions. , said the board.

“(Our) overall assessment is that the government’s climate plan does not clarify how the 70% target can be achieved,” the report said.