Mette Frederiksen: In 2025, Denmark will have its first emission-free domestic flight route
This year it is 50 years since “the flag followed the flag” and Danes said yes to the EU (then EC), and Norway said no. In her New Year’s speech, the Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen marked this by raising her ambitions in climate policy. It also means sharpening Denmark’s climate profile in the EU.
To become a climate union
– The EU must be a climate union, with Denmark as a pioneering country, she stated in her speech to the Danish people.
Among the very concrete initiatives Frederiksen mentioned in his New Year’s speech were green air routes.
– When other countries in the wood are too slow, Denmark must take the lead, she said.
The Prime Minister also helps with air traffic, which has proven to be very harmful to the climate.
“We must make it green to fly,” she said, adding:
Therefore, it is the government’s ambitious goal by 2025 that Danes must have the opportunity to fly green on a domestic route. By 2030 at the latest, we must be able to fly completely green domestically in Denmark.
She explained that this was going to be difficult, but that it would be done.
You can read the whole speech her.
Controversial increased CO2tax
The Danish Prime Minister, who is the leader of Ap’s Danish sister party, also announced the introduction of a new and tough CO2tax. This is going to be a hot potato in Denmark. Dansk Industri (DI), which corresponds to NHO in Norway, is to increase CO2tax, but will cut energy taxes, as DI wrote in one article recently.
Frederiksen justified in his New Year’s speech that the principle is that those who pollute must pay.
– Many are in the process of adjusting, for others it will be longer. But the starting point is simple: It is a Danish principle that those who have the widest shoulders should carry the most, she said and concluded:
– This also applies to the green transition. If you release CO2, then you have to pay.
Struggle within the EU
The signals from the Danish Prime Minister about a tougher climate profile in the EU come at a time when the EU is struggling to gather around climate policy measures.
By December at the latest, EU heads of state and government agreed on wording on the energy crisis. The reason was that more countries wanted measures that both seized the free market for energy, regulated the quota market and pushed for some of the ambitious proposals for climate laws, called “Fit for 55.” This is a legislative package that will enable the EU to reach the target of 55% by 2030. This has been discussed in the Council (Member States) and in the European Parliament, it is a comprehensive process that may not be completed until 2023