Denmark signs European agreement to reduce gas consumption within 6 months; here's expert analysis.
Last week, Danish Climate Minister Dan Jorgensen signed a new agreement with his European counterparts committing member states – such as Denmark – to reduce their natural gas consumption by 151 TP3T. However, Denmark had already achieved this goal in 2020, according to official data. As part of the green transition, Denmark has for several years successfully persuaded Danes to replace their gas-fired heating and cooling systems with more renewable energy sources in their homes.
The new EU requirement adopted last week stipulates that EU countries must reduce their natural gas consumption by 15% in six months compared to the average consumption over the past five years. This has led many residents to say that Danes now have to change their habits, but according to calculations from Greenpeace, it appears that Denmark has already reached the new reduction target in 2020.
Targe Haaland, a climate and energy policy advisor at Greenpeace, who made the calculations based on figures from the Danish Energy Agency, said: “Our calculations show that there was no problem for Denmark in saying yes to this agreement.”.
Targe Haaland adds, “If we want to be in solidarity with other EU countries, Denmark should start by calculating its current natural gas consumption and try to reduce it by another 15% in the next six months… After all, it is still about reducing natural gas consumption as much as possible and as quickly as possible for the sake of the climate.”.
The new EU agreement came in response to Russia's announcement that it would cut off gas supplies to Europe, making winter gas supplies uncertain for EU countries. As Climate Minister Dan Jorgensen said last week, the agreement is an expression that EU countries stand "shoulder to shoulder" against Putin and "in solidarity" with each other.
According to Marie Münster, a professor at DTU, “Denmark has already begun to achieve a 151 TP3 tph reduction in our natural gas consumption. Although it never occurred to us that Denmark would have to phase out natural gas after the outbreak of war in Ukraine, we have long been engaged in the green transition of our energy supply, and this also means that some natural gas has been replaced by biogas.” She points out that even if we weren't obligated to act due to the requirement recently adopted by EU countries, there are good reasons to continue reducing natural gas consumption. She adds, “We are obligated by the fact that we still need to achieve a 701 TP3 tph reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, and natural gas prices may continue to rise; moreover, we risk them becoming even higher. So, we have many reasons to continue to conserve gas and reduce consumption.” However, Marie Munster is not sure it is realistic that Denmark will be able to reduce consumption by another 15% by March 31, 2023, compared to the current level suggested by Greenpeace's climate and energy policy advisor.
It is worth noting that in order to involve all EU countries in the new agreement, a high degree of voluntary participation was introduced, and not everyone is required to comply with the new requirements. For example, member states whose electricity grids are not compatible with the European electricity system and which rely heavily on natural gas are exempt from the agreement.
(Source: Information)
