The Danish government unveiled a six-track climate action plan to substantially lower its CO2 emissions in the coming decade. The plan includes creation of the world’s first energy islands.
The climate action plan foresees concrete actions in order to ensure a 70% CO2-reduction by 2030 from 1990 levels. These include:
- Energy islands with offshore wind turbines
- Green fuels and Power-to-X (PtX)
- Energy efficiency in buildings
- Green heating by district heating or electric heat pumps
- Green energy and energy efficiency improvements in the Danish industry
- Climate neutral waste sector by 2030
The government estimates that the climate action plan can reduce CO2 by two million tonnes. However, in order to reach the ambition of a 70% reduction of CO2 by 2030, a total reduction of just below 19 million tons is needed.
One of the central tracks is construction of energy islands, making the country the first in the world to shift from individual offshore wind farms to energy islands.
The green electricity from the energy islands will either be used directly or converted and used sectors that cannot use green electricity directly. This includes aviation, heavy transport and some processes in industry and is done via the PtX technology.
With the establishment of the world’s first two energy islands, we embark on a completely new era in the Danish wind adventure…We present an action plan that delivers both CO2 reductions in the short term and paves the way for a future climate neutral Denmark,
…said Dan Jørgensen, Danish Minister of Climate, Energy and Utilities.
The ambition is to establish two energy islands by 2030: One will be an artificial island in the North Sea with a capacity of 2 GW and the potential to expand to at least 10 GW. The other energy islands will be the inhabited island Bornholm – also expanding its capacity by 2 GW.
The total of 4 GW in the plan is more than twice as much as is currently operating off Denmark’s coasts today.
Overall, the ambition is a climate-neutral waste sector in 2030, and that 80% of Danish plastic must be sorted from incineration in 2030. This also holds a focus on improving the conditions for a circular economy.
The Danish government committed to present more climate action plans from August 2020.
