The Danish government and leading industry, agriculture, and environmental groups have agreed a major strategy to cut carbon from agriculture and restore nature that includes a tax on livestock emissions, conversion of farmlands to forest, and biochar subsidies.
Monday’s agreement was the outcome of lengthy negotiations with the various groups, known as the ‘Green tripartite’, and will reduce Denmark’s 2030 greenhouse gas emissions by 1.8 million tonnes of CO2e – enough to ensure it meets its Paris Agreement target – and put the country on track to meet nature ambitions under the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF).
“With today’s agreement we are investing billions in the largest restructuring of the Danish Landscape in modern times,” said Lars Loekke Rasmussen, minister of foreign affairs.
“We are creating a lot more nature, a cleaner water environment, growing much more forest, and making it possible to develop agriculture aligned with the green competition of the future.”
The Danish agricultural plan includes:
• A tax of DKK300 ($43.18) per tonne of CO2e on livestock emissions from 2030, rising to DKK750 in 2035, though with a 60% floor deduction, the effective tax will be DKK120/t in 2030 and DKK300 in 2035
• Some 15% of agricultural land will be converted to forest and nature areas
• A DKK10 billion subsidy scheme for the production of biochar through pyrolysis
The deal will make the Scandinavian country the first in the world to tax livestock emissions, the government said.
The government is setting aside DKK30 bln for the agricultural land conversion, which it said will lead to 250,000 hectares of new forests planted by 2045.
Some 140,000 ha of carbon rich soil is expected to be part of the process, and the government will initiate a strategic acquisition of lands to ensure nitrogen levels in soil are reduced.
Denmark has a total of 109 water bodies, but only five of those are in good health, and reducing nitrogen levels is key to restore the health of the other 104, the government said.
“With the conversion, we are taking 15% of agricultural land out of use, so that we can have much more nature in Denmark,” said Environment Minister Magnus Heunicke.
“We are making room for more national parks, significantly more untouched forest, and much more protected nature. We are creating a roadmap for how all 109 water bodies will be healthy, and initiating concrete measures for them.”
The government said it expects two-thirds of all water catchments to be affected by the new efforts by 2027, while the last third will be covered by the end of the decade.
By Stian Reklev – stian@carbon-pulse.com
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