Although the climate, human health and economy would benefit from people following the official dietary guidelines, we continue to see many examples of ads, campaigns and lobbying that seek to preserve or promote the consumption of meat and milk.
Our current consumption patterns and lifestyles constitute a significant climate impact that cannot be reduced through technological solutions alone. It is therefore internationally recognized, both politically and scientifically, that action must be taken now to promote climate-friendly lifestyles while establishing green technologies and production methods.
The first CO2 will be pumped into the Danish underground, and this could be the start of a major Danish CO2 storage adventure. If done right, CCS could play an important role in meeting Danish and European climate targets.
The EU needs more accurate modelling tools for its climate policies, as the current information is often not up-to-date and does not reflect the rapid development in green technologies.
A new common agricultural policy (CAP) came into force on 1 January 2023, but it only creates limited opportunities for reducing agriculture's negative impact on climate and biodiversity.
The green transition of the agricultural sector is a major topic in the election campaign, and for good reason. The upcoming parliament must contribute to ensuring unprecedented greenhouse gas reductions from Danish agriculture in a very short time, and preferably with a beneficial effect on the global climate.
A national reduction target for the climate footprint of consumption can be an important starting point for changing our consumption patterns. This is the conclusion of a new joint white paper from DeltagerDanmark and CONCITO.
In cooperation with the Norwegian Embassy in Denmark, CONCITO took the initiative to gather the strongest Nordic think tanks and knowledge institutions within the climate field in a two-day informal seminar. We gathered to share experiences and perspectives on the green transition and to see how our cooperation could be strengthened.
Despite the war in Ukraine, inflation, and rising energy prices, Danes support the green transition and want stronger climate action. This is shown in the new edition of CONCITO's Climate Barometer.
Today we are facing a critical situation with regard to transport decarbonization. Whereas other sectors have reduced their greenhouse gas emissions, transport has increased not only its share of the total but its absolute CO2 emissions per year compared to 1990.
In the EU, negotiations on new rules for free allowances in the Emissions Trading System are entering into their decisive phase. The allocation of free allowances overrides the ‘polluter pays principle and slows down decarbonization. Free allowances should therefore be phased out more quickly, and the allocation of free allowances should be better targeted.
CONCITO brief
By Martin Birk Rasmussen, International klimaanalytiker
A new EU regulation aims to curb EU-driven deforestation and forest degradation, reduce biodiversity loss, and halt greenhouse gas emissions. However, the proposal itself is likely to just shift import of high-risk products to countries with less strict deforestation regulation.
Climate change is increasingly seen as a conflict driver in the most vulnerable and fragile countries of the Global South. Indeed, the Syrian conflict has been assessed as conceivably the first conflict where it has been demonstrated with relative certainty that repeated and prolonged droughts over a short period of years laid the ground for economic collapse in - and internal migration from - rural areas towards the major cities, and that this migration subsequently contributed to internal social unrest and conflict in Syria.
Blog
By Jarl Krausing, vicedirektør og international direktør, CONCITO
The Danish Green Think Tank CONCITO has, as part of its new increased international engagement, signed a collaboration agreement with the UN Environment Programme (UNEP)
It is unsustainable for the EU to use large farmland areas to grow crops for energy when the world is facing a growing food crisis. Denmark should work for the EU to suspend the EU biofuels blending requirement and stop meeting the CO2e displacement requirement with crop-based biofuels.
The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has published the third part of its sixth main report. It focuses on the opportunities and needs to mitigate climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The first interim report, published in August last year, dealt with climate science itself. The second interim report on climate impacts, adaptation and vulnerability was published in early March this year.
