Voice of America
22 Sep 2019, 03:35 GMT+10
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," Dan Jørgensen, 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?"
Jørgensen said 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 to Jørgensen, 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.
Now, he said, most people agree on the nature of the problem. Looking out the window, "they see droughts, they see flooding, they see extreme weather phenomena," he said. "We are also a nation that's closely connected to Greenland," one of the places where climate change is most evident in the form of melting glaciers.
With that consensus, the debate has shifted to an energetic discussion about the best policy instruments to address the problem.
The issue so dominated Danish general elections in June that the campaign has been described as the country's "first climate election," with the question of how to achieve a green transformation topping the agenda in debates among the candidates for prime minister and other posts.
Looking beyond Denmark, Jørgensen said Denmark and its partners in the European Union were sad to see the United States withdraw from the Paris climate agreement and hope it will reconsider. "There's nothing I would hope more than the U.S. taking leadership on the global stage also on green issues," he said.
Join the battle
Meanwhile, Jørgensen said, all countries and especially the "big growing economies" must join in the battle to prevent climate change "from becoming irreversible and having the most catastrophic consequences."
But he acknowledges the frustration of newly developing countries, which are only now acquiring energy-intensive amenities that the developed nations have long enjoyed.
"It's not up to us who've been polluting and emitting greenhouse gases for more than 100 years - when I say us, I mean the West, the United States, Europe - it's not up to us to tell them, 'No, you cannot drive a car, you cannot buy a fridge or an air conditioner, no, you can't start to eat meat a few times a week because you can afford it all of a sudden because you've come out of poverty.' "
Rather, he said, it is up to Denmark and the other developed countries to say, "Can we help you in any way to make that growth green?"
Get a daily dose of Mexico Star news through our daily email, its complimentary and keeps you fully up to date with world and business news as well.
Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to Mexico Star.
More InformationWashington DC [US], June 19 (ANI): Actress Eva Mendes recalled how she and Ryan Gosling bonded when they first started dating, reported...
BEIJING, June 19 (Xinhua) -- Ushering in the summer shopping season in high gear, China's 618 shopping festival -- originally launched...
Turbat [Pakistan], June 19 (ANI): Family members and residents in Turbat, the main city of Balochistan's Kech district, staged a sit-in...
Ahmedabad (Gujarat) [India], June 19 (ANI): Rakesh Joshi, Superintendent of Ahmedabad Civil Hospital, on Thursday stated that 211 DNA...
Munich [Germany], June 19 (ANI): The World Uyghur Congress (WUC) has expressed its appreciation for the G7's firm and unequivocal position...
Geneva [Switzerland] June 19 (ANI): On June 16, as the 59th session of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC 59th Session) began, the...
BEIJING, China: Chinese civil servants are now facing stricter rules on dining together, with some local authorities limiting group...
DUBAI, U.A.E.: As violence escalates between Iran and Israel, Tehran is turning to its Gulf neighbors to help broker a ceasefire —...
LONDON, U.K.: On June 15, Britain named Blaise Metreweli as the first woman to lead the Secret Intelligence Service, commonly known...
BARCELONA/MADRID, Spain: With another record-breaking tourist season underway, thousands of residents across southern Europe marched...
NEW DELHI, India: The flight data recorder from the crashed Air India plane was found on June 13. This vital discovery may help investigators...
BEIJING, China: A typhoon altered its course and struck Hainan Island, southern China, late on the night of June 13. Typhoon Wutip...