To create change, you have to be able to imagine the future. For us at the Green Transition Council, our shared future is green, electric, and where there is a balance between people, nature, and the environment. Below you can see how we get there by focusing on four crucial areas.

In recent years, we in Denmark have been through a roller coaster ride in the climate and environmental field. We have seen progress, decline and stagnation. In some cases, politicians have taken active action and got things done, while other cases and decisions have pulled us far back. Therefore, the three words climate, environment and biodiversity must be lifted right into the middle of politicians' field of vision again. We must act now - together - and we must do so for several reasons: for the climate, the environment, nature and biodiversity and thus also our health, economy, cohesion and security. It can also be said more briefly: for our own sake, our children and grandchildren.

Most of what we are pointing to has already been proven to have a big impact on our society. Now we need the right politicians and cooperation to make it happen. The next four years will make a big difference.

The greenest greetings

Green Transition Denmark

Four focus areas on the path towards a shared green future

Clean drinking water and a healthy ocean

If we want to be able to tap clean drinking water and bring life back to our oceans, we must address a particularly sore spot for our society: our consumption of chemicals. Substances like PFAS have been a kind of wonder chemical, making our kitchenware easier to wash, our clothes drier and industrial processes easier to run. But unfortunately, the chemicals have a serious downside. Study after study shows that they harm our health and environment, and they find their way into every corner of our society: drinking water, the marine environment, crops, livestock and our blood. Now, joint efforts must be made to turn off the tap, ban the harmful chemicals, develop alternatives, and clean up and tidy up.

Food for people with respect for nature

Agriculture must find the balance again, so that good quality food is produced for people and with respect for nature, climate and the environment. We must gain experience from those who are already taking action. The farmers who are converting to organic farming and working to reduce their climate footprint. The young people who are joining forces to produce food in a way that takes into account the aquatic environment, biodiversity, the soil and the well-being of animals. The Green Tripartite Agreement must reduce some of the nitrogen emissions to the aquatic environment and reduce agriculture's CO2 footprint further. But we must also have agriculture free of harmful pesticides, and that produces more plant-based food and has fewer cows, pigs and poultry. This benefits our environment, climate and health.

Green transport on the roads

Can you imagine walking through a city without the noise of car engines and smoke and smells from exhaust pipes? The way to get there depends on us getting more electric cars and buses on the roads, while fossil fuels have to put down their clogs. Unfortunately, many forces in the automotive industry are pulling the opposite way in the EU. At the same time, efforts are needed to get trucks and ferries to run on electricity, and to develop more green fuel for large ships and aircraft. Self-driving technology has great potential and can reduce the number of cars on the roads. A transformation of the transport sector will make a big difference to health, the environment and the climate, because today the sector is responsible for more than a quarter of the climate impact in Denmark and the EU.

Clean energy – a joint project

To slow down climate change, protect our environment, increase biodiversity and ensure cleaner air, we must completely end fossil fuels. We must stop extracting coal, oil and gas from the ground and burning biomass in heating plants. Instead, we must get all our energy from the sun, wind, water and geothermal energy. And we must save energy and use it more efficiently. The good news is that we have the technologies to base our society on renewable energy, but it must be rolled out, and it must be done in a way that makes sense − also for local communities. The green transition will only be fully successful when it is anchored and becomes a joint project.