The Danish government confirmed this Thursday (18) that the country will aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 82% by 2035, compared to 1990 levels.
Environmentalists consider this objective to be the most ambitious of any country in the world, surpassing the announcement by the United Kingdom, which promised an 81% reduction over the same horizon.
The Paris Agreement, the main treaty aimed at containing climate change, defines that all nations must make voluntary contributions to reduce emissions every five years, setting targets for the following decade. Denmark’s previous document, defined in 2019, predicted an emissions reduction of 70% by 2030.
During COP30, the UN conference held in November, the Minister of Climate and Energy, Lars Aagaard, indicated that the country intended to set the objective of reducing emissions by 82 to 85% by 2035. He then declared that he would only begin negotiations with Parliament to determine the exact value after the Belém summit.
“The Danish government is willing to consider a higher target, but this depends on its willingness to take shared responsibility both in terms of ambition and financing,” he said at the time.
This Thursday’s announcement indicates that the 82% reduction was defined solely by the government, without consensus with parliamentarians.
“We had good discussions, but I see that it was not possible to find a common basis to reach a broad agreement. That is why we set a climate target for 2035, but the door remains open for cooperation,” Aagaard said. “I also consider that it is possible to raise the target at a later date, if conditions change.”
The minister also said the country would invest 4 billion Danish crowns (around 3.4 billion reais) per year for 15 years to help achieve the goal.
“We take responsibility for the goal and how to achieve it. Daily life must not become unnecessarily costly for Danes and Danish businesses,” he said.
Ulrich Bang, vice president of the Danish Chamber of Commerce, said the new goal strikes a balance between climate action and protecting competitiveness and value creation in businesses.
“By setting a clear target for 2035, Denmark is once again positioning itself at the international forefront in taking responsibility for the green transition and promoting a more climate-friendly society. This is also the path Europe must follow to strengthen its energy independence and build a more resilient society.”
The new target has not yet been submitted to the UNFCCC, the United Nations climate convention. Nations should have submitted their commitments for 2035 by February this year. Due to widespread delay, the deadline was extended to September and some countries have still not completed their task.
For Denmark, only the European Union target is included in the system, submitted by each of the countries that make up the bloc. On the 10th, the European Commission reached an agreement to relax emissions reductions. The decision was taken by Aagard, which negotiated the subject with Parliament and European countries.
The bloc defined that a 90% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2040 compared to 1990 could be achieved by purchasing carbon credits from developing countries in a volume equivalent to 5 percentage points of the target from 2036.
It was also agreed, as a future option, to use international carbon credits to achieve an additional 5 points of the 2040 target, which would ultimately bring the national reduction to 80%.
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