After months of intense negotiations on the various models that the Svarer committee presented earlier this year, the tripartite negotiatons between the government and a number of interest organizations were able to put an end to a plan, which will limit agriculture’s CO2 emissions and create a better water environment, biodiversity, etc. And the plan was presented by a very satisfied government and with satisfied faces from those involved – from Danish Agriculture & Food Council to the The Danish society for Nature Conservation. The agreement must now be finally negotiated in place in the Folketing.
The agreement involves a CO2 tax that, fully phased in in 2035, will cost the farmer a net DKK 300 per tonnes of CO2. A tax which is returned to agriculture as a subsidy for investments in new climate-friendly technology. It is a model that the chairman of Danish Agriculture & Food Council.
In Søren Søndergaard’s view, it is a huge plus that a large taxdeduction was included in the CO2 taxes – and a long run-in phase for Danish agriculture, not least on the CO2 taxes from livestock production.
– I have a huge focus on the fact that we got a CO2 tax, which will not come for many years. Now we know what to do. We are proud that it succeeded, he says to Landbrugavisen.
Søren Søndergaard also places particular emphasis on local planning for the many thousands of hectares to be taken out of operation – with agriculture on board around the country.
– It is also something I have fought hard for, so that it should not be a state planning that there should be forest here, there should be low-lying lands and groundwater parks here. We have somewhat decoupled that, so that there is no central planning from Copenhagen, but that we from our rural associations locally can sit together with the municipalities and plan in local coastal councils.
The new agreement at a glance
A CO2 tax on agricultural greenhouse gas emissions will be introduced from 2030 of DKK 120 per tonne of CO2. It will rise to DKK 300 per tonne in 2035.
DKK 40 billion of state funding will be made available to support:
Read more about the agreement at CPH Post: Denmark announces world-first climate tax on agriculture – earmarks billions for rewilding – The Copenhagen Post (cphpost.dk)
