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Denmark´s Second National Communication on Climate Change

2. Introduction

At the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992 more than 150 countries signed the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. According to the Convention text, the Convention enters into force on the ninetieth day efter the date of deposit of the fiftieth instrument of ratification, which happened on 21 December 1993. Denmark deposited her instrument on the same date. Accordingly, the Convention entered into force on 21 March 1994.

According to decisions taken under article 12 of the Convention each developed country Party shall communicate to the Convention secretariat its second national report presenting inter-alia inventories of emissions by sources and removals by sinks of all greenhouse related gases; a general description of steps taken or envisaged by the Parties to implement the Convention, and other information that the Parties consider relevant to the achievement of the objective of the Convention.

Further, under the Convention the developed countries shall in their communications incorporate detailed descriptions of measures adopted to implement commitments under article 4, paragraph 2(a) and (b), and an estimate of the effects of such measures on anthropogenic emissions.

This report presents the Danish programmes and measures taken to observe the commitments under the Climate Convention. The Danish Government acknowledges the 1995 Guidelines for Communication of Information Under the Framework Convention on Climate Change prepared by the OECD/IEA and approved by the COP 2 in July 1996. Further, the Revised 1996 IPCC guidelines have been applied to N₂O from agriculture and the pollutants not earlier included (SO₂, HFCs, CFCs and SF₆). Background material and data underlying the calculations in the report are available upon request to the Danish Environmental Protection Agency.

In preparing the report, it has been the intention to the extent possible to incorporate in the estimates, e.g. on the impacts of climate changes, relevant material that has been analyzed and assessed in other contexts. As regards material from the North Atlantic parts of the Kingdom of Denmark, i.e. the Faroe Islands and Greenland, only information about population, climate and vulnerability to climate change has been available. It was decided to issue the report without further information on the North Atlantic areas.

Chapter 3 of the report contains a large number of reference data on Denmark, i.a. on geography, population, coasts, climate, and the consumption of primary energy, both for energy and for transport purposes.

Chapter 4 presents an inventory of emissions of greenhouse gases, and describes the scope for restricting emissions and increasing sinks within the forest and agricultural sectors.

Chapter 5 and 6 give an account of the action plans which have been drawn up for the energy, transport and waste sectors, and which will contribute significantly to restricting emissions of greenhouse gases. Chapter 6 contains the projections and assessment of the measures described in Chapter 5. A very comprehensive and thorough description is given of the programmes and plans for the energy sector with additional information presented in Annexes F and I. The twofold purpose is to give a detailed documentation of how Denmark will meet the ambitious target to reduce the emission of CO₂ by 20% by the year 2005 compared to 1988 and to inspire other Parties to the Convention in efforts to control their present as well as their future emissions of the most important greenhouse gases.

Chapter 7 gives an account of the impact of expected climate changes in Denmark, Greenland and Faroe Islands, and the scenarios available for adaptation to the climate changes.

In Chapter 8 is stated that so far no adaptation measures have been taken.

Chapter 9 deals with international cooperation in the field of financial assistance and technology transfer.

Chapter 10 describes the Danish research activities carried out in support of climate research, both at national and at international level, as well as socio-economic assesment of climate change mitigation and technological research and development.

Finally, Chapter 11 deals with aspects of education, training and public awareness.

The following institutions have made contributions to the national report: the Danish Coastal Authority, the Danish Energy Agency, the Danish Meteorological Institute, the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Transport, the National Environmental Research Institute, the National Forest and Nature Agency, the Statistics Denmark, the Risø National Laboratory, the WWF-Denmark and the Forum for Energy and Development.

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