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Denmark Hopes to Set Example With Ambitious Carbon-Cutting Program

Natalie Liu

   A senior Danish official says his country hopes to set an example for
   the world with an ambitious scheme to cut carbon emissions by 70% in
   little more than a decade, but it has no illusions that it can have a
   meaningful impact on global warming by itself.
   "To be honest, for the climate, even if we just close down our country
   tomorrow, it wouldn't help much," DanJørgensen, Denmark's top climate
   and energy official, told VOA during a visit to Washington this week.
   "I guess you can argue: Does it really matter what you do?"
   Jørgensensaid Denmark accounts for just 0.1% of the world's carbon
   emissions, a drop in the bucket compared with emissions from the
   largest polluters such as China, the United States and India. But he
   said, "The reason we do these things anyway is that if we succeed in
   doing that, then hopefully we'll inspire others."
   Jørgensen, who will be in New York next week to promote his country's
   climate agenda at the United Nations, said his country hopes to
   demonstrate that it can carry out a green transformation and still be
   competitive in the global marketplace. In the process, it expects to
   develop new technologies that "other countries can also use."

   Stages of debate
   According toJørgensen, the climate debate in Denmark has gone through
   several stages since the issue started to enter the public's
   consciousness about 15 or 20 years ago.
   At that time, he said, some in Denmark still questioned how real
   climate change was and whether humans had anything to do with it. That
   was followed by a period in which the public by and large understood
   that climate change was real, but some remained reluctant to devote
   resources to the problem, concerned that efforts by Denmark alone would
   be futile.

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