Fall in Danish emissions ‘down to efficient policies’

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Denmark’s energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions fell last year by more than the gross national product, according to national energy agency figures published on Wednesday.

This shows that increasingly effective government policies, and not the global recession, were responsible for the improvement, climate and energy minister Connie Hedegaard said in a statement.

Energy use and CO2 emissions dropped by 1.9 and 2.5 per cent while GNP decreased by 1.3 per cent, figures show. Greenhouse gas emissions fell by 4.7 per cent and renewables accounted for 17.3 per cent of net energy consumption. Oil and coal consumption also dropped while natural gas use rose slightly.

Emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases were also down in other EU countries last year (EE 16/01/09). In Spain, greenhouse gas emissions in the cement sector fell by a fifth because of a collapse of the construction industry triggered by the economic downturn (EE 12/12/08).