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Danish solutions to global environmental challenges

1. Introduction and objectives

• 1.1 Eco-efficient technologies are the solution
• 1.2 The government’s objectives
• 1.3 The action plan in brief
• 1.4 Evaluation points
• 1.5 Division of responsibilities
• 1.6 Financing

1.1 Eco-efficient technologies are the solution

Climate change. A shortage of clean water. Harmful air pollution.

The world is facing numerous environmental challenges that it will be difficult to overcome without the aid of new eco-efficient technologies. With this action plan, the government will contribute to further developing Danish strongholds within eco-efficient technology. The aim is for environmental, development and economic growth to go hand in hand.

Technology already plays a decisive role in our efforts to protect the environment and its resources. In our daily lives, there is technology everywhere that limits pollution from production, transport and consumption; from the catalytic converters in automobiles to energy and water-saving enzymes for sewage treatment. Without the targeted application of eco-efficient technology, environmental problems would be much more serious than they are today.

The need for new smarter technologies will increase. The pressure put on water resources is rising. The amount of chemicals used daily remains high. Air pollution in cities is a severe problem in most of the world. Energy efficient and renewable energy resources are of high priority everywhere for the sake of the economy, security of supply and climate change.

Water, chemicals, particle pollution and climate change are just a few of the obvious examples of environmental problems that will be difficult to solve without halting development, unless there is focus on the continued development of eco-efficient technologies. Moreover, our growing knowledge and technological abilities give us new opportunities for sustainable production and consumption as well to improve health and safety at work; opportunities that we must fully exploit.

Denmark and Danish enterprises are leading the way in the development and application of eco-efficient technology. At least 60,000 Danes currently work in the nation’s more than 420 environmental enterprises, i.e. enterprises that provide environmental solutions as a significant part of their business. Denmark currently exports more than DKK 45 bn. in eco-efficient technology, of which DKK 39 bn. is in the energy sector. In other words, Denmark has been very successful at promoting eco-efficient technology and has a position that provides a good basis for the Danish business community in a market where there is a growing need for new technological solutions.

Denmark’s position did not just happen by itself. It is the result of many years of dedicated effort. Implementing environmental controls, incorporating environmental considerations in, for example, the energy, industrial, transport and agricultural sectors as well as targeting public investment in research and development are crucial. Even though public authorities and institutions play an important role in the environmental effort, enterprises are the primary creators of technological solutions.

Today, environmentally driven innovation is a feature of the daily activities of many enterprises. Accomplishing this has required investment, new ways of thinking and actively involving and upgrading the skills of employees. The environment has also become good business for many Danish enterprises that produce technology where reduced environmental impact is an important sales parameter.

1.2 The government’s objectives

With this action plan, the government intends to strengthen, renew and focus efforts to develop and apply eco-efficient technologies so that Denmark and Danish enterprises can continue their central role in solving the world’s most pressing environmental problems through technological innovation.

The government is of the opinion that efforts to promote eco-efficient technology are enhanced when planning is done coherently. Coherent efforts also provide a better payoff by focusing more sharply on the areas in which the global environmental impacts of the future are expected to require new solutions. The government will renew efforts in line with the renewed and modernised Danish research and innovation policy.

This action plan is also an important part of Denmark’s follow up to the EU’s Environmental Technologies Action Plan (ETAP) and the EU decision supported by Denmark, that eco-efficient technology must be incorporated in the overall higher priority being rendered by the EU countries to research and innovation efforts. Eco-efficient technology is a good example of a target area where successfully reaching the desired results is only possible if EU member states and EU institutions work together.

While preparing the action plan initiatives, the government has adopted a number of milestones for the renewal represented by the action plan:

• We must focus on the global and European market and the effort must:
  • Contribute to solving the global community’s environmental challenges.
  • Be focused so that it promotes Danish environmental and energy exports.
  • Create synergy between Danish and EU work with eco-efficient technology.
• We must focus more on enterprises and entrepreneurs and the effort must:
  • Be based on Danish strongholds, i.e. areas in which Danish environmental enterprises have proven that they have the prerequisites to be among the best in the world.
  • Be backed by better and more targeted advice for enterprises, entrepreneurs and inventors.
  • Be developed and operated, for example, by binding partnerships for innovation.
• We must focus on trends and new opportunities and the effort must:
  • Ensure that technological breakthroughs benefit the environment. For example, technological advances within areas like information and communications technology and biotechnology must be better incorporated in new eco-technological solutions.
  • Ensure that researchers and inventors see the need for finding new, intelligent solutions to environmental problems, for example, through consultancy from the authorities and through assistance in trying out new solutions.

The effort to promote eco-efficient technology is, to a great extent, about integrating consideration for the environment into technological development within the sectors that especially affect the environment, including energy, agriculture, transport, construction, industry and research and innovation.

The action plan will thus be implemented as collaboration between several ministries, each of which is in charge of the activities within their area of responsibility.

1.3 The action plan in brief

Eco-efficient technology is a Danish stronghold. The government supports enterprises that work with eco-efficient technology. The aim is to create new technologies that benefit the environment, welfare, exports, competitiveness and Denmark’s brand as a country with an innovative and knowledge-intensive business environment.

On this basis, the government is launching nine initiatives:

The content of the nine initiatives is looked at in detail in section 2 of the action plan. Development of the individual initiatives can be monitored at www.ecoinnovation.dk.

The action plan follows up on the government’s ”Report on the promotion of eco-efficient technology: The road to a better environment”, May 2006, and the political agreement of November 2006 between the Liberal Party, the Conservative People’s Party and the Danish People’s Party on the allocation of an Environmental Billion fund. Under the agreement, DKK 120 million of the Environmental Billion will be used for financing initiatives from this action plan. A number of initiatives from the action plan are also associated with other agreements in the annual budget for 2007, including the agreement on allocations from the globalisation pool for research, innovation and entrepreneurship. The action plan must be seen in context with the government’s proposal to strengthen Danish energy and climate policy as well as the multi-year plan for sustainable and environmentally correct livestock production, where the emphasis is also on promoting employment in rural districts.

In the report on eco-efficient technology the government announced that it would present an action plan for eco-efficient technology with a more elaborate description of the nine initiatives as well as a detailed plan for their implementation. A number of initiatives and activities that the government presented in the report on the promotion of eco-efficient technology had already been initiated by the government before this action plan was made public. This was done to get started quickly and to ensure the best possible interaction between the many activities the initiatives in the report build upon domestically and abroad. The timetable for this action plan indicates which initiatives have been set into motion and when the other initiatives are scheduled to start.

Moreover, efforts must be developed continuously to ensure the best possible synergy with related activities in Denmark and with EU initiatives. The action plan must interact with the EU’s action plan for environmental technology (ETAP) and EU environmental regulation, just as the specific initiatives in the action plan must support the development of new technology that can help contribute to cost-effective implementation of EU legislation.

1.4 Evaluation points

The nine initiatives in the action plan each contain a large number of activities, services and products. In this phase of the process, it is not possible to provide an exhaustive list, but Denmark would like, for instance, to be evaluated on the basis of the following:

• Before 2009 at least five partnerships have been established and with these a number of new business concepts for the development and marketing of Danish eco-efficient technology by enterprises.
   
• Before 2010 grants have been distributed to at least 30 enterprise-based projects from the Environmental Billion fund for eco-efficient technology. The aim is to give enterprises with new and promising eco-efficient technological solutions within water, noise and air pollution and the substitution of undesirable chemicals the opportunity to test, demonstrate and evaluate their solutions.
   
• In 2007-2009 strategic research projects have been set into motion that support development by enterprises of new eco-efficient technology in relation to climate/ energy, water, air pollution, chemicals, soil contamination, etc.
   
• Continuous updating of a list of the strongholds of Danish enterprises in eco-efficient technology.
   
• Defining well before the UN climate conference in 2009 in Copenhagen the Danish stance on how the development and spread of eco-efficient technology can be incorporated as a feature in an international climate agreement for the period after 2012.
   
• In 2007 an analysis is carried out on where significant technological barriers exist for making advances in reducing harmful air pollution based on Denmark’s international commitments on air quality and on emissions caps.
   
• From 2007 concrete initiatives and projects are implemented that promote the use of eco-efficient technology in connection with the substitution of undesirable chemicals and that promote the use of computer-based models (QSAR) that can reduce the need for animal experiments.
   
• By the end of 2007 a call for tender has been held on managing the establishment of a new certification scheme for eco-efficient agricultural technologies.
   
• By early 2008 analyses have been prepared of “Danish lessons” concerning the connection between environmental efforts and eco-efficient technology as the basis for marketing Danish eco-efficient technology on export markets.
   
• By the end of 2007 an environmental agreement has been entered into with China on innovation creating collaboration projects for eco-efficient technology.
   
• At the end of 2007, 2008 and 2009 analyses have been prepared on eco-efficient technology for enterprises, researchers and financial institutions that focus on describing the market for eco-efficient technology, mapping Danish strongholds and milestones for enterprise development of eco-efficient technological solutions.
   
• By the end of 2009 Denmark has been used as a display window for the environmental and energy technology related solutions of Danish enterprises in connection with the UN’s international climate conference in Copenhagen.

1.5 Division of responsibility

Enterprises can develop solutions that work and that can be sold on markets. Researchers can create new knowledge and communicate this to enterprises, the authorities, etc. And consumers are the first to tell about new trends and needs and they hold a key position when technologies have to be tested.

The authorities, of course, play a role when it comes to the economy, knowledge and regulation. The government sees the effort as an interface between a number of different political areas, including environmental policy, research and innovation policy, energy policy, agricultural policy, transport policy, foreign policy and industrial policy – just to mention the most significant.

The division of responsibility in the central government is shown below.

1.6 Financing

The action plan’s initiatives for promoting eco-efficient technology are financed by the following new funding:

• The Environmental Billion fund: A political agreement has been entered into between the government and the Danish People’s Party to set aside DKK 120 million from 2007-2009 for the promotion of eco-efficient technology.
   
• The Environmental Billion fund: A political agreement has been entered into between the same political parties concerning efforts against particle pollution as well as citizen-oriented environmental initiatives, with DKK 63.5 million being set aside for efforts to curb particle emissions (including funding for the development, testing and demonstration of technologies to reduce pollution from burning wood).
   
• The Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, the Ministry of the Environment, the agricultural industry and the EU’s rural districts funding: An agreement has been entered into to allocate DKK 255 million to the effort to promote eco-efficient agricultural technologies (including DKK 45 million from funds for eco-efficient technology from the Environmental Billion fund, see above).
   
• The globalisation pool: In connection with the 2007 annual Finance Act agreement, an agreement has been entered into between the government, the Danish People’s Party, the Danish Social Liberal Party and the Social Democrats about allocation of the globalisation pool. The agreement means that DKK 671 million has been earmarked for strategic research and development that supports renewable energy, environment and transport from 2007-2010. Of this, DKK 144 million has been earmarked for a new strategic research programme for environmental technology and DKK 477 million has been earmarked for a new Energy Technology Development and Demonstration Programme (EUDP). The remaining DKK 50 million is for strategic transport research and marine environment research. Finally, in its new long-term energy strategy, the government proposes that public investment in the research, development and demonstration of energy technology should be doubled up to 2010, so that it reaches DKK 1 bn. a year. The government would like to maintain this level from 2010 and onward.

Funding will also be added to this from a number of existing grants, for example:

• Allocation of research funding from the 2005 and 2006 annual budgets for focus areas: ”environment and energy”, ”water” and ”renewable energy systematised” under the Danish Council for Strategic Research – a total of DKK 249 million for 2007-2008.
   
• The EU’s budgets for 2007-13.

The initiatives build upon a substantial existing effort. For example, the environment is estimated to be a significant element in 5-10per cent of the funding that is granted every year for research and development.

In 2006, public funding for research and development was DKK 12.6 bn. while private funding was approx. DKK 26 bn. The activities connected to the partnerships and the testing and demonstration of different eco-efficient technologies also require active financing from enterprises.

The new funds broken down between the nine initiative areas

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Version 1.0 October 2007, © Danish Environmental Protection Agency