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The Carbon Dinosaur in Denmark |
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In Denmakr, the barriers to fighting climate change are
rooted in the open market of the European Union and the ideological
outlook of the Danish government. One of consequences of the open market
ideology is that Danish energy producers tend to use the cheapest production
methods for electricity production. At the moment this means coal fired
power plants. Furthermore the government has removed financial support
for renewable energy and have stated that renewable technology must
compete under strict market conditions. The government has been a vocal supporter of the controversial academic Bjørn Lomborg. Having demonstrated the great media potential in fighting the environmental movement, he was appointed as director of the new Institute of Environmental Assessment. With millions of taxpayers money he has now arranged a closed conference for a handful of top Western economists who are going to give priorities to 10 issues of importance to the whole World population -- the only environmental issue is climate change. Parallel to this secretetive conference, NOAH (Friends of the Earth Denmark) and many other NGOs are holding a counter summit at the Conference Hall of the Danish Parliament. Global Conscience will meet to stress that fighting poverty and environmental problems are not mutually exclusive but can strengthen each other, as issues of sustainability, development and climate change are closely interlinked. The effects of climate change will force a poorer and insecure future upon hundreds of millions, particularly in the Third World. By combating the Carbon Dinosaurs we will reduce international conflicts on fossil resources, increase World stability, reduce poverty and save natural resources for the next generations. For this reason the Carbon Dinosaur will tower outside the Conference Hall and be a focal point for the public and journalist. NOAH will launch a special issue of their magazine focussing on Environmental Economics and activists are collecting signatures for Friends of the Earths 10 climate demands. A big poster exhibition is going to put focus at the climate change problem and what individuals as well as governments and the EU can and should do about it. The barriers to fighting climate change are both related to the present ideologically acting political majority in Denmark and to the effects of the open energy market in the EU. One of the serious consequences of the open energy market is that Danish energy producers are forced to use the cheapest production methods i.e. for electricity production. That means, when judged solely from economics, payed coal-fired power plants beats new wind power capacity in the competition. The government has removed financial support for renewable energy and state that these technologies have to compete solely on market conditions. The present political majority consist of the government (Liberal Party and Conservative Peoples Party) supported by the right wing Danish Peoples Party. In short they want to do as little as possible when talking domestic reductions of greenhouse gas emissions. They want to buy quotas abroad and to use the CDM and JI mechanisms as much as possible. Economic growth is a top priority of the government and it has recently increased the maximum allowed speed at highways from 110 km/h to 130 km/h at about 50% of the Danish highways. |
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