More Elements of Transition Are Required to Fulfil the New Reduction Requirement
The Danish Energy Agency has raised its estimated reduction requirement from 9.4 million tonnes of CO2 to 13.4 million tonnes of CO2.
The Danish Energy Agency’s General Projection 2017 constitutes the official source for assessing Denmark’s chances of meeting its climate targets. Therefore, the report by the Danish Council on Climate Change is based on the estimated reduction requirement presented in the general projection for meeting the 2030 target in the non-ETS sector. After publishing the general projection, the Danish Energy Agency adjusted the estimate and released a formal correction on 29 May 2017.
In this report the Danish Council on Climate Change has explored 20 elements of transition within various sectors and points to eight elements of transition which together reduce emissions in the non-ETS sector by 12.0 million tonnes of CO2e from 2021 to 2030. This means that Denmark is 1.4 million tonnes short of meeting the adjusted reduction target.
In general, the analysis by the Danish Council on Climate Change shows that Denmark will be able to meet the non-ETS sector target. There is therefore reason to consider a greater reduction than indicated by the estimated central reduction requirement. In the report the Danish Council on Climate Change points to two additional elements of transition, which may be relevant if Denmark wishes to aim for a greater reduction of greenhouse gas emissions before 2030, namely energy willow and wood pellet boilers.
Adding these additional elements of transition will enable Denmark to meet the adjusted reduction target. In addition, the Danish Council on Climate Change points to biogas in the natural gas grid as a way of further increasing the reduction.
After adding these elements of transition the Danish Council on Climate Change now points to a total of 11 elements of transition to be prioritised in Danish climate policy towards 2030.
Table 1 thus replaces tables 1.1 and 6.1 in the report.