Table 1: General environmental goals, focus on new instruments and examples of existing mechanisms Priority areas General environmental goal Focus on new instruments Examples of existing instruments Climate - Limit emissions of greenhouse gasses by 21 per cent in 2008-2012 compared to 1990 levels (the Kyoto Protocol) - Flexible mechanisms: quota trading between countries, JI and CDM (DKK 130 million allocated in Finance Act 03) - Quota regulation and trading via the EU’s Emissions Trading Directive (final adoption, mid 2003) - Renewable energy in the electricity supply sector - Decentralised combined heat and power - Energy labelling - Electricity saving scheme - Environmental taxes on fuels - R&D in renewable energy Water - Prevent and combat contamination of groundwater and surface water - Changes to the way the wastewater sector is organised, including deregulation and outsourcing (proposal mid 2004) - Transparent fees and taxes (proposal mid 2004) - Greater use of financial instruments combined with reductions in administration in accordance with the Action Plan for the Aquatic Environment III (political negotiations expected to start in early 2004) - Measures aimed at wastewater, nitrogen and pesticides - Wastewater charges - Tighter fertiliser regulations - Pesticide tax - Information - Approval schemes - Increased afforestation - Establishment of wetlands - More organic land use - Identification of particularly sensitive land use areas Waste - Decouple growth in the volume of waste from economic growth - Increase recycling - Increase the quality of waste management - Waste must be less dangerous - Changes to the way the waste management sector is organised, including deregulation and outsourcing (proposal late 2004) - Producer responsibility (2004) - Transparent fees (2003) - The waste tax - Product specific taxes and fees - The Consolidated Act on Waste - Deposit schemes - Information - Voluntary agreements - Grants for the development of processing technology Chemicals - In 2020 there must be no products or goods on the market containing chemicals with particularly problematic health or environmental impacts - Producer and importer responsibility (expected to be implemented in 2004/2005) - Better information for enterprises and the retail sector (ongoing) - Further knowledge building regarding the effects on Man and the environment (follow up to future EU regulation, 2004/2005) - Better organisation of taxes - Risk assessment - Approval schemes - Bans - List of undesirable substances - Taxes - Voluntary agreements - Information