It is important that Danish agriculture contributes to the fight to reduce Denmark's emissions of greenhouse gases if we are to live up to the national and international agreements, we have entered into. Agriculture covers more than 60 per cent. of our land area, which makes Denmark Europe's most intensively cultivated country, and the agricultural sector accounts for more than 25 per cent. of the Danish greenhouse gas emissions.

The government's expert committee has just proposed three possible models for a tax for agriculture, and the Green Transition Denmark has the following comments on the committee's recommendations:

Quotes, Niklas Sjøbeck Jørgensen, senior advisor for Food and bioresources:

"Danish agriculture must climb out of the hole that the industry has dug deeper into for a long time with the investment in intensive animal production. It is therefore gratifying that the Svarer committee is presenting a proposal for a model with a tax of DKK 750/tonne CO2, which actually leads to the changes and new opportunities that are needed. If we combine the model wisely with the EU's agricultural support and an acceleration of the plant-based sector, we can see a Danish agriculture that operates within the planetary boundaries."

"The expert committee has done a great job and we are particularly proud of the fact that they have gone beyond the 2030 targets and looked at how we can best create a model that lasts all the way to 2045, when we must be climate neutral."

"It is extremely important that we focus on creating a tax architecture that future-proofs agriculture beyond 2030. Fortunately, the committee has had a great deal of focus on that. We must be climate neutral by 2045 – and at the same time we have major challenges with a dead marine environment and a pressured biodiversity. Therefore, the tax of DKK 750/tonne CO2 is clearly the best way forward, as here we are setting a new and more future-proof course for agriculture."

Quotes, Trine Langhede, advisor for Food and bioresources:

"It is important that we do not gamble with investments in technological solutions in order to continue undeterred as we are today. If cows have to have feed additives, it locks them into the barns, instead of letting them out to pasture, where they can benefit biodiversity and the ecosystem in the field.”

“We have not yet seen a single full-scale pyrolysis plant in operation. Therefore, it is extremely uncertain how much effect the technology can actually deliver. We also still lack answers to many important questions about pyrolysis and biochar. For example, we do not know what long-term consequences bringing biochar onto the fields can have on soil and biodiversity. Or whether toxic substances can be formed in the pyrolysis process. Therefore, we hope that the politicians do not create a pyrolysis pool one billion kroner. That money is better spent elsewhere."