IS DENMARK REALLY A GREEN PARAGON?

Source: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Electricity_price_statistics

The global quest for decarbonization of the energy supply has created anumber of interim successes that are widely portrayed as examples to follow.
Denmark is one of them. Taking advantage of the prevailing North Atlantic
westerlies, the country’s onshore and offshore wind turbines now generate 48%
of its electricity, some of the abundant production of Danish straw is used forboth electricity generation and for urban district heating, and despite its small
size it is EU’s fourth largest producer of biomethane (used mostly for electricity
generation) from agricultural wastes (13.4 million pigs, more than two for everyDane).
1The result: even when taking into account Denmark’s relatively significant
methane releases (from about 1.5 million heads of cattle, roughly one for every
four Danes), the country’s per capita greenhouse gas emissions (in terms ofCO2 equivalent) were cut by nearly half between 2000 and 2020 (from 13.8 to
7.3 tons). In comparison, Germany, despite the two decades of its expensive

Energiewende achieved only about a 30% cut, the EU as a whole reduced its
emissions by about 24%, US emissions declined by about 12% and China’s
generation of greenhouse gases has nearly tripled.
Denmark clearly looks like a great decarbonization story -- but a closer
look shows that it cannot be a widely replicable example of success. Denmark’s
rising wind-driven generation has been accompanied by a fairly steady increaseof electricity imports: they had nearly doubled between 2010 and 2021 (from10.6 to 20.1 TWh) and as exports have equaled roughly two-thirds of that total
the country has been a significant net importer of electricity. At about 18% of
the total consumption, it was about as dependent on electricity imports as
Greece and 50% more dependent than Italy (Germany is a net electricity
exporter, France an even large one). Larger economies, and the countries not aswell connected to neighboring major hydroelectricity and coal-fired electricity
producers (Norway, Sweden, Germany) do not have the option of securing
nearly every fifth kWh from imports. Moreover, Denmark now has the EU’s mostexpensive electricity, 45% dearer than the union’s average.
Even more importantly, Denmark has always used its large agricultural
exports to buy energy-intensive industrial products, and it has done so to a2

much higher extent than other Nordic, and many other small EU, countries.
Norway, thanks to its inexpensive electricity, is a major producer of aluminum,
Sweden and Finland have relatively sizable steel industries, Finland is also a
paper-making super-power –- but Denmark does not produce any aluminum
and any iron and steel, and it also does not make (despite its intensive cropproduction) any ammonia, any float glass and, of course, having no forests tospeak of, any paper. And, unlike Sweden and Finland (or half a dozen othersmall EU countries), it does not make or assemble any cars. These are allenergy-intensive products, some of them requiring significant inputs of fossil
carbon, and importing them transfers the emissions associated with theirproduction to exporting countries: it is easier to be green when letting others
to do black tasks!
This reality shows clearly in Denmark’s overall economic complexity, themeasure that captures the diversity of exports and ability to produce a large
variety of sophisticated products. At 0.97 its index is far lower not only than inFinland (1.47) and Sweden (1.59) but also in Slovakia, Slovenia, Malaysia orThailand. Obviously, it is far more likely that more complex economies will be
more energy intensive, and, given the continued dominance of fossil fuels in
the global energy supply, that they will have higher carbon emissions. This istrue no matter if such complex economies are large energy producers (US,China) or large energy importers (Japan, Germany). Undoubtedly, Denmark hasdone well on many accounts, but the accomplishments and options of a small,uniquely situated and not too complex economy do not provide an admirable3

example for countries with the world’s largest greenhouse gas emissions(China, US, India) or for the world’s most diversified economies (Japan, South
Korea).

DATA SOURCES

Cattle and pigs

Livestock - Statistics Denmark (dst.dk)

Glass worldglassmap.com
Biomethane

https://www.europeanbiogas.eu/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/GIE_EBA_BIO_2020_A0_FULL_FINAL.pdf
Mapping the state of play of biomethane in Europe | European Biogas
AssociationSteel European-Steel-in-Figures-2020.pdf (eurofer.eu)
GHG emissions

Statistics | Eurostat (europa.eu)

Total greenhouse gas emissions (kt of CO2 equivalent) - China, United States |Data (worldbank.org)
Cars Interactive map - Automobile assembly and production plants in Europe ACEA - European Automobile Manufacturers' AssociationAluminumDigital Activity Report 2019 - 2020 - European Aluminium(european-aluminium.eu)
Electricity trade

Electricity and heat statistics - Statistics Explained(europa.eu) https://www.statista.com/statistics/1015329/net-electricityimport-in-4

denmark/#:~:text=Denmark%20imported%2020.1%20terawatt%20hours,%2C%2
0Germany%2C%20and%20the%Electricity prices

Electricity price statistics - Statistics Explained (europa.eu)

Economic complexity

The Atlas of Economic Complexity (harvard.edu)(Disclaimer: The views and impressions in the columns are personal opinions ofProf. Smil and do not represent the opinions of ICEF.)

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