A breath of green energy
With neither relief nor forests, and facing the sea, the country has the ideal conditions for betting on wind power. It has been doing so since the 1970s, and is now the world's per capita wind power champion, with 56% of its electricity generated by turbines. In 1990, it was the first country in the world to create an offshore wind farm. Thirty years later, still a pioneer, the government has announced plans to create the world's first energy island, which will convert surplus wind power into hydrogen. Located in the North Sea, the project aims to do without oil, gas and coal, on which the country is still heavily dependent. Although Denmark boasts a huge wind farm, including the Husahagi wind farm on the Faroe Islands, the wind doesn't always blow, so the country is still heavily dependent on imports from neighboring countries. What's more, electricity accounts for only 20% of the energy consumed. Fossil fuels (mainly oil) are therefore in the majority, if we don't focus solely on electricity. However, the country's objectives are up to the challenge: it aims to achieve 100% renewable energy by 2050.
Green Capital of Europe
In 2014, Copenhagen joined the select club of European green capitals. This award crowns a number of advances in terms of ecology and ambitious goals, such as becoming the first carbon-neutral city by 2025. To achieve this goal, the city is focusing in particular on cycling. Since the 1970s, the city has been building bicycle paths, encouraging residents to leave their cars behind, and installing self-service bicycle stations, to the point where it is now the world's bicycle capital. At the same time, the Danish capital is developing its public transport network, with the aim of achieving three quarters of journeys being made without a car.
To discourage residents from driving, the city has even reduced speed limits on its main roads and cut back on parking. Gasoline-powered vehicles seem to be a national bête noire, as Denmark had already proposed to the European Commission to ban their sales by 2030.
In addition to this, the city relies on technology to defuse its green shift, as when it implemented intelligent streetlights. Street lighting is now able to adjust according to outside brightness, traffic and season: a simple but innovative system that has enabled the city to achieve 50% energy savings and cutCO2 emissions by 20% in the renovated area. In terms of architecture, 98% of the homes are supplied by a shared heating network, greatly reducing emissions.
The organic kingdom
In Denmark, agriculture is a key ecological issue, with two-thirds of the country devoted to farming. That's why the country has bet on organic farming, to the point where it is now the world's leading exporter! Far from ceding everything to others, the Danes are themselves the world's leading consumers of organic produce, and are even looking to slowly convert their public services (hospitals, canteens, etc.) to 100% organic cuisine. But the country has no intention of stopping there, and is pursuing its Organic Action Plan for Denmark (OAPD), launched in 2011, with six main objectives, including increasing organic exports and stimulating innovation in the sector.
Protected areas
Denmark has five national parks (six with Greenland) and many other areas protected by different statutes (Natura 2000, Ramsar)..
The latest is Kongernes Nordsjælland National Park, which opened in 2018, on the island of Zealand. It includes one of the most diverse forests in the country in terms of plant species. It is home to wildlife typical of northern European deciduous forests: red foxes, deer, owls, or even kingfisher.
The Thy National Park, founded in 2007, borders the coast of North Jutland. The park is known for having been the scene of several sightings of wild wolves, from Germany, although the animal is considered extinct for 200 years! The return of the wolves proves the good ecological health of the park, as well as the presence of many bird species, such as the crane and the wood sandpiper.
Finally, the Wadden Sea National Park, founded in 2010, is the second largest in the country, with an area of 1,466 km2. Together with its German counterpart, the Schleswig-Holstein National Park, which is only a few dozen kilometers away, it makes the Wadden Sea a vast area where many breeding birds, migratory birds, and other animals thrive. The unique environment of the Wadden Sea has been declared a World Heritage Site.
A pristine nature in the Faroe Islands
Rocky heap in the middle of the immensity of the ocean, the Faroe Islands are a green preserved paradise which intend to remain so. With 110,000 annual tourists for 50,000 inhabitants, the archipelago is far from being a mass tourism destination, but prefers to prevent than cure. That's why, every year since 2019, at the initiative of the Tourist Office, the most popular sites of the North Atlantic islets display a "closed for maintenance" sign for two days. Tourists are then replaced by an army of volunteers, drawn at random, fed and housed, who come to take care of the environment. On the program: restoration of hiking trails to avoid trampling of the vegetation, construction of observation points for birds, marking of trails..
