Denmark is one of the world’s leading pioneers in environmental awareness and eco policies. This is true to such an extent, that the Danish Government stated in 2007 that their platform from then on will be a green one, with reduction of green house gas emissions, and a sustainable society, which is infrastructurally adapted to climatic change.
On a political level, the long-term goal is to gain 100% independence from reliance on fossil fuels, which may seem a somewhat idealistic(or unrealisitic) target to most of us. Yet, no matter how extreme this goal might seem, it’s a goal that must be reached in order to cope with the upcoming changes that the exhaustion of fossil fuels will bring.
Denmark already boasts a strong eco-infrastucture, and has highly developed technologies in the field of wind power, biomass and biogas. To encourage home owners to invest in these alternative sources of energy, the Danish government has offered tax exemptions to families who choose to generate their own energy with the use of wind power. A further „incentive”, is the high energy taxes. Denmark has one of the highest household electricity prices in the world.
Apart from further research into these, and other sustainable sources of power, Denmark has introduced a policy of tax free hydrogen and electric cars(at least up until 2012), as well as generous funding into alternatively-fuelled automobile technology, solar and wave power.
Denmark seems to be doing well in all areas of environmental awareness, but most outstandingly in the area of recycling. According to the Danish Ministry of the Environment, more than 90% of waste from households and businesses is re-used and transformed into heat and electricity.
