A shared future - balanced development
15. Measures and knowledge base
A forward-looking commitment to the environment and sustainable development may stimulate competitiveness and the transition towards the knowledge economy. Paying attention to environmental concerns should be economically beneficial. This is why those who manufacture, supply, consume and finally dispose of products should bear the environmental costs. Technological breakthroughs and innovation are necessary to redirect society towards sustainable development. We need a solid knowledge base for making the right decisions and prioritising activities. Environment policy needs to be knowledge-based and underpinned by the precautionary principle.
Denmark has built up a broad and in general wellfunctioning system of legislation on nature and the environment.The Government wishes to explore whether increased use of market-oriented measures will be able to supplement these rules and help solve environmental problems in the best and most cost-effective manner for society. Marketoriented measures such as environmental taxes, tradeable quotas and subsidies have often proved suitable for making producers and consumers more environmentally friendly in their actions. If environmental concerns demonstrate that it is appropriate to introduce new environment taxes or increase existing taxes, the additional revenue will be applied to reducing other taxes and charges.
The activities and adjustments needed to create a society in harmony with the natural resource base call for insight, understanding and skill.To make the right decisions, prioritise activities and select the right measures, a solid knowledge base is required. Research into causal relationships and into how activities in society have a bearing on people and nature is a prerequisite for a targeted and prioritised approach in the environment area. Forecasts and scenarios for the anticipated trend in emissions/the state of the environment and the interplay with the economy are other essential elements of the knowledge base needed to achieve sustainable development.There should be general focus on more knowledge building to underpin better prioritisation in environmental initiatives so that Denmark ensures "the most cost-effective solution for society when achieving environmental objectives". At the EU summit in Barcelona in the spring of 2002, it was decided that the total expenditure on research and development in the EU should be increased to a level approaching 3 per cent of the GDP by 2010.
Decisions at all levels should be assessed in relation to the environment.The Government finds it important that bills and Government proposals presented to Parliament undergo a strategic environmental impact assessment to ensure that the environmental consequences form part of the decision making basis in line with economic analyses. Similarly, the environmental impacts of largescale, central-government engineering works must be assessed. Local and regional authorities should also ensure that decisions at local level are submitted to environmental impact assessment.
The desire has been - and still is - to ensure that Danes are aware that environmental concerns must be taken into account in production and consumption. The public sector wants to take the lead by, amongst other things, including environment considerations in procurement policy. Consumers are buying a larger volume of eco- and energylabelled products, and steps are being taken in many areas to introduce even more eco-labelled products to the market. Eco-labels and environmental product declarations offer consumers improved opportunities for making real choices.
Technological breakthroughs are among the keys to enhanced resource efficiency, which may help decouple environmental impacts from economic growth.The Subsidy Scheme for Cleaner Products has been instrumental in promoting the development of products, tools and technologies that, combined, have been able to foster the inclusion of environmental considerations into production and to offer Danish enterprises a competitive edge in other markets.Technological forward thinking can further support this process.
A growing number of Danish enterprises are assuming an active role in preventive environmental activities by introducing environmental management, developing cleaner products, and drawing up green accounts. This positive trend must be maintained through better information, guidance and exchange of experience.
Local and regional authorities play an important role in the concrete implementation of Denmark's nature and environment policy. Local and regional authorities manage substantial parts of specific environmental and spatial planning activities. At the same time, local and regional authorities are best at involving the public in active debate on local planning. A constructive dialogue between authorities and the public is of paramount importance and should be strengthened to gain optimal solutions for both people and the environment.
Objectives and activities in the future
In order to achieve "the most cost-effective solution for society when achieving environmental objectives", the Government will submit a report in 2002 on the green market economy. This will analyse the possibilities for practical use of marketoriented tools for the promotion of a better environment, including economic tools such as taxes and subsidies, tradeable pollution permits and quotas, user charges, property rights, phase-out of environmentally harmful subsidies, rules on liability, etc. Furthermore, there will be an analysis of the potential and experience in technological innovation and dissemination of technological solutions, as well as initiatives that can stimulate and develop the market so that enterprises can better exploit their environment initiatives as a competition parameter. Moreover, practical application of measures to promote the development of environmentally friendly and resource-efficient technologies and products will be examined.These analyses will also chart the market potential of the environment and the need for cooperation between the public and private sectors on initiatives to promote technological development and the market's function and transparency with a view to making it easier for consumers, investors, and enterprises to be environmentally and resource conscious.
The use of economic instruments should be coordinated internationally.We can obtain higher environmental gains if, for example, tax levels are more or less identical in different countries, which eliminates the need to pay special regard to international corporate competitiveness when designing tax systems. In the international arena, Denmark will work on the development of common instruments to reach the CO2 target. One possibility is to introduce international taxes on air transport, for example a tax on aviation fuel. In the EU, Denmark will take steps to harmonise environmental taxes with minimum rates.
In the OECD countries there are examples of subsidy schemes, including tax exemptions that can encourage behaviour that has negative consequences for the environment. It is necessary to examine whether the existing subsidy schemes should be changed or adjusted to prevent them from harming the environment.
Denmark is facing a technological challenge. Technological breakthroughs and innovation are required both in order to ensure enterprises' competitiveness, and to decouple the negative impacts on nature and the environment of economic growth. A long-term effort to promote pioneering technologies is required. There is a need to disseminate knowledge of existing, environmentally friendly technologies and develop new technology, new materials and new solutions to redirect society towards sustainable development.Technological forward thinking is an important instrument in this development.There is also a need to find new ways of organising existing production in a more environmentally favourable fashion to ensure that resources are used as efficiently as possible and that products become more environmentally friendly throughout their life cycles.This means that nature and the environment must be affected as little as possible per unit produced or service provided - throughout the production chain from extraction via consumption to disposal. The initiatives for cleaner products must help to remove barriers to development and encourage sales of more environmentally friendly goods.The new EU framework programme for Research,Technological Development, and Demonstration underpins sustainable technological innovation. Danish research and development policies must contribute to the EU targets within this area.
We need to strengthen the interplay between the public and private sectors on research, development, and dissemination of green technologies. Universities and the corporate sector must be more open to cooperation on research, technological development, education, and training. In order to promote this cooperation, the Government has introduced an allowance of 150 per cent on research expenditure applied in cooperation with public institutions. Public and private-sector prioritisation of research into environmental issues can help strengthen industrial and commercial positions and ensure market breakthroughs for cutting edge technologies that take into account environmental considerations. For example, fuel cells in future transport can lower CO2 emissions substantially. Information technology and biotechnology may also pave the way for new environmentally friendly production methods and products.The use of new types of materials can lower resource consumption and open more recycling possibilities.
Enterprises must have the chance to cooperate with knowledge institutions, which can support environmental initiatives through, for instance, advice on environmentally friendly technologies, strategic environmental management, communication on environmental issues, and staff competence development. New knowledge and new tools and methods must be disseminated to, and firmly embedded in, enterprises and their surroundings. We need to establish a framework within which the market itself rewards and stimulates environmental initiatives in enterprises, thus encouraging them to focus on technological development. At the same time, any barriers to the market access of environmentally friendly technologies must be removed.
The development and use of economic and other measures must be reconciled with enterprises' capacity for innovation and self-management. Direct regulation in the form of legislation and rules will still be necessary as the market and technology develop. Environmental regulation will represent the required minimum basis for environmental behaviour and will determine the framework conditions capable of motivating enterprises to pay greater attention to developing and selling environmentally friendly products and to undertaking other voluntary green initiatives.The regulatory measures must be chosen with due regard to reaching environmental targets in the most costeffective manner.
A better knowledge base will support sustainable development.This applies to basic, strategic and user-oriented research in all sectors. Basic research into causal relationships and into new environmental and societal problems is important for society's ability to take the right and preventive decisions at an early point and thereby achieve sustainable development.Therefore, research and development in support of sustainable development should be strengthened.The vision is to provide Denmark with a strong knowledge base on sustainable development.
The Government has established an Environmental Assessment Institute.Through research at a high international level, the Institute must ensure that environment targets are reached in the most cost-effective way. The Institute must achieve a general view of the current and long-term environment situation, both in Denmark and globally. In relation to this, the Institute must call upon and utilise all the knowledge and competencies that have been built up by other national and international research institutions.This knowledge and insight must be disseminated to the public and to political decisionmakers.
Decisions on environment policy should build on the optimum knowledge base - knowledgebased environment policy. There is a need for research, data collection and monitoring that can contribute to improving the decision-making basis.The link between research and priorities in action plans and strategies must continue to be strengthened. Environmental economy and analyses of how the behaviour of enterprises and citizens affects the environment rank among the core research areas.This also holds true for research into the link between activities in society and effects on human health and the environment as well as forecasts and scenarios of the anticipated development.The knowledge acquired must be available to everyone. Where the knowledge base is insufficient, the precautionary principle is an important instrument.
Knowledge of the link between activity and environmental impacts provides an improved decisionmaking basis, and the methods for strategic environmental impact assessment must therefore be upgraded.The integration of the environment and economy into decision-making processes can be promoted by documenting the effect of environmental initiatives through economic analyses of advantages and disadvantages. In order to prepare these analyses, we need to upgrade the methods for valuing the benefits of nature and the environment that are affected by political initiatives.
In the years ahead, attention will be also be directed to information, education and teaching.The key concepts in a forward-looking information and teaching strategy on sustainable development are knowledge and responsibility. Schools and youth education programmes assume a special role as the institutions that help shape the fundamental values of children and young people. Greater awareness of the natural basis of human existence combined with profound knowledge of the interplay between the environment and economic and social issues will be reflected in the attitudes and sense of responsibility of future generations.The education sector plays an important role, for example through teacher and educator training which should focus on helping children and young people understand the problems associated with sustainable development.
One duty of educational institutions is to disseminate knowledge about the environment and sustainable development in such a way that this knowledge can lay the foundation for democratic decisions. Sustainable development should be taught in a context of international cooperation among educational institutions.This would cause children and young people to realise that we have common problems that can best be solved by taking joint international action. In March 2000, ministers for education signed the Haga Declaration, and in January 2002, the first Agenda 21 for education in the Baltic region (Baltic 21E) was approved. With this, the educational sector placed ecological, economic, cultural and social development on the agenda for cooperation between Denmark and the countries bordering the Baltic Sea.