3 December 2009

News from the inside

Is Denmark really green?

We are part way through the first day of the Copenhagen Climate Exchange (a sort of COP15 for the public) where we have been getting visitors to pledge to reduce their carbon emissions and find out more about their eco-impact. Response has been good and we even got the former Head of Denmark's Environment Department, Vagn Rydeng, to pledge - he pledged to “get an electric car as soon as it is feasible”. However, when we were researching the Danish ecological footprint we were somewhat surprised to find that it is massive! - a per capita ecofootprint of 8.1 hectares - not far off of the USA and United Arab Emirates.

Some of the Danish people that we speak to think the Danish government has been doing a good PR job of making Denmark look like a green country when it’s actually not. Although you can’t deny that Denmark does have some good results – 20% percent of its energy production comes from wind power (significantly more than any other country) and the public transport system in Copenhagen is very efficient and convenient, and the fantastic cycling infrastructure makes the bike a very popular option.

We ran a ‘call for action’ workshop today with the visitors. We asked them what they thought world leaders should do to stop climate change, particularly focusing on how they can help individuals and communities – ‘more support for public transport’ was a very popular call. We are running these work shops over the four days of The Exchange and will present the most popular calls to Denmark’s Environment Minister, Connie Hedgard, at the closing ceremony on Sunday to help show that the people are behind her and the other world leaders to make big carbon cuts.

Of course there is a big eco-impact from all the people who are travelling to Copenhagen for the conference and surrounding events. As a charity we always try to practise what we preach so we took the train and we are couch surfing with Danish hosts. I am staying with a very hospitable dreadlocked chap called Ingolf and my BioRegional colleagues have found their hosts to be equally welcoming. Ingolf is not a fan of the new laws that have been passed to deal with the possible protester issues that may arise later on in the Conference, he thinks they are very heavy handed and are unpopular – one lady said that the one thing that will really stop any trouble is bad weather! – I was told that it rained for 27 out of 30 days here in November so maybe that will be the case!

At the moment there is a nice low-level buzz about COP-15 in Copenhagen but I think these chilled out Danes are going to get a shock; come Monday this place is going to liven up!

Jennie Organ
Communications Manager