Denmark Invests $2.1B to Speed Up Green Transition, With Major Focus on Climate-Friendly Agriculture

The Danish government is pouring 15 billion kroner into green research and innovation, which includes a focus on climate-friendly agriculture and alternative proteins.

To speed up its path to net zero by 2045, Denmark is investing 15 billion kroner ($2.1B) until 2030 in R&D for new technologies spanning four distinct research missions.

The government is aiming to make it easier to transfer new climate-centric tech solutions from the laboratory into society, strengthening capabilities around carbon capture, biofuels, food and agriculture, and the circular economy. Policymakers also want to resolve any barriers that impede these technologies’ part to market – like testing, documentation, or coordination between authorities.

There’s a major focus on the agrifood sector, which is the largest source of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions, making up 25% of the share (versus 24% from transportation and 19% from energy). Addressing carbon-intensive farming is key to meeting its goal of reducing emissions by 70% by 2030 (from 1990 levels) – the country became the first in the world to announce a carbon tax on meat and dairy production earlier this year.

“Climate change is one of our generation’s biggest challenges, which we can only solve with innovation and in collaboration with the country’s most talented researchers,” said Christina Egelund, Denmark’s education and research minister.

“Known solutions and technologies have brought us far, but not at the finish line. We must further develop, test and make the solutions even more widespread,” she added.

Denmark deepens focus on plant-based foods

Denmark is pumping 500 million kroner ($73M) towards a future-friendly food sector. The funds will be used to develop technologies that can significantly reduce the climate impact and land use of conventional and organic food production, including emissions from livestock and fertilisers, and lower negative effects on nature.

To do so, it is looking at solutions such as soil carbon sequestration, biorefining (including pyrolysis and biochar), new feed products linked with smaller climate footprints, plant breeding, and more effective regulation (for example, on emissions reporting).

Much of this research mission covers the AgriFoodTure partnership between universities, knowledge institutions, small businesses, and multinational corporations. The initiative already has 18 projects with 70 partners working to generate new solutions for the agrifood sector under five tracks: land use, animal food production, plant-based food, alternative protein and food biomanufacturing, and value chain aspects.

The Danish government is aiming to fast-track documentation and regulation, establish a new foundry for sustainable food, introduce mandatory implementation and follow-up, and discover solutions for a climate-neutral agriculture sector. It also namechecked precision fermentation and gas fermentation among the key solutions.

The focus on alternative protein is an extension of the country’s recent moves to greenify the domestic food industry. Emissions from beef consumption make up 45% of its emission reduction targets, while the country is a major exporter of pork and dairy, two groups of foods with large climate footprints.

In June, the Danish parliament approved the first carbon tax on agriculture, with farmers set to pay 720 kroner ($105) for their cattle herd’s emissions from 2030, rising to 1800 kroner ($260) in 2035.

“Bureaucracy and slowness must not stand in the way of the green transformation of agriculture,” said food and agriculture minister Jacob Jensen. “That is why I am happy that we are now allocating funds to more quickly develop, test and implement the measures that will make the transition easier for farmers. With the plan, we give farmers a real opportunity to implement the technologies that can reduce their tax payment.”

Denmark was also the first country to establish a national action plan to transition towards a plant-based food system. The scheme includes training chefs in public and private kitchens to prepare vegan meals, a greater focus on plant-based diets in the education sector, expanding exports of locally produced vegan food, and investing more in R&D for this industry.

Carbon capture and biofuels not bereft of criticism

The move will increase universities’ research and innovation funds and long-term research capacity by 500 million kroner ($73M) in 2025, prioritise strategic climate research environments, and bolster coordination in the implementation of such funds.

Denmark’s lawmakers also hope to strengthen the links between the four missions, authorities and international research initiatives, while addressing the need for test and demonstration facilities, all aimed at increasing the speed of rolling out technologies.

Not all of the research missions are universally embraced by climate activists. For example, Denmark has 30 projects centred around carbon capture and storage solutions, and was the first country to open an underwater burial site for CO2 and import the gas from other nations.

But these technologies come with a wide range of problems, despite being deemed necessary by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the International Energy Agency. The process of capturing and storing carbon itself emits 21% of the gas involved, and it’s highly expensive and unproven on a large scale. Experts also suggest that building a wind or solar power plant is a much more efficient approach.

Similarly, Denmark is championing ways to convert renewable electricity into products that can lower emissions from transport and industry, which currently have no cost-effective alternatives to fossil fuels. One of these approaches is power-to-X technology, which converts energy into hydrogen for biofuels – but the tech’s efficiency and approach have come under some criticism.

Finally, the country is also targeting a circular economy with the green innovation investment, with 19 projects involved in developing solutions to enhance resource productivity, reduce waste, increase recycling rates and quality, and slash emissions from products – with a particular focus on plastics and textiles.

“Green research and technology is a core element in the transition, because it creates the concrete tools for agriculture to adapt and develop in a greener direction – also for many years to come,” suggested Jeppe Bruus, the minister for the public-private green tripartite. “The government is now coming up with a concrete plan for that core element.”