ForumforAg Food Systems Podcast Summary

In this episode, recorded at the Forum for the Future of Agriculture’s Regional Event in Copenhagen, we share insights from Jeppe Bruus, Minister for the Green Transition, Denmark, in conversation with  Mark Titterington. They discussed the work happening in Denmark to drive the transformation of the agri-food system and achieve the country’s ambitious climate goals.

The session opened with Minister Bruus introducing himself and his Ministry, the first of its kind in Denmark, and sharing the background to Denmark’s Green Tripartite Agreement, as well as its goals. Here is a summary of his introduction and the questions he answered.

We are trying to reshape our landscape and create growth and jobs in the food and agricultural sector as part of a green transition, sector for sector. I was previously Minister of Taxation and negotiated a deal for a carbon tax on Danish industries, because of our climate goals. In 2020, Denmark’s Climate Law set a goal of 70% reduction by 2030, and we have already passed our mid-term goal. The industry deal included investing in carbon capture and storage, and we have lowered emissions from industries and the transportation sector.

Agriculture accounts for one third of all emissions from Denmark today. By 2030, it will be half, because other sectors are going down. If we’re not lowering emissions from the food and agricultural sector, we are not going to be successful in our climate goals.

That’s why we will introduce a carbon tax on livestock, the first such tax in the world. How did we get to this deal? Our formula was to sit together with eight parties including the largest agricultural organization, the largest green NGOs, Ministers, municipalities, and others.

The deal also includes restoring polluting peatlands, improving water quality, and enhancing nature and biodiversity. We aim to create 40% more forest, which is also a tool for lowering emissions. The deal is also about creating growth and jobs in our food and agricultural sector.

The convincing argument for our climate policies in Denmark is our key principles. First, we want to do it in a way where we are not seeing protests on the streets, where we’re all on board.  Second, we take care of our own pollution, not moving industries or farming to other places where they then can pollute. Third, it should also be socially fair and balanced.

We will be taking out 15% of our current farmland…in a way where farmers can then produce even more extensively on robust lands that are not polluting our fjords and seas, or polluting our atmosphere. This is the balance of the deal.

In the past, we have not been that successful in implementing our deals on climate, on agriculture.  So, we decided to create a new Ministry with the simple task of implementing this one deal.

As Denmark is taking over the Presidency of the European Union in a few weeks, it’s our hope to use this as an inspiration, but also to influence policies at the European level as well.

This is a plan on a fairly unprecedented scale: 250,000 hectares of forestry, 1 billion trees, 140,000 hectors of peatland rewetted, nitrogen regulation, the first ever tax on carbon emissions from agriculture. How did you do it when others haven’t been able to forge the kind of consensus that you have in Denmark?

If we look at the context, industry and transportation were already investing and lowering emissions, so they were looking at the agricultural and food sectors. Denmark has a robust economy, so the deal goes alongside investment – we’re going to invest in opportunities for farmers. It’s the same principle that we had with industries. We said, “if you’re not investing, you’re going to pay the tax”. It’s an incentive to lower your emissions and also to increase your competitiveness… because consumers and companies will opt for a cleaner product.

The stakeholders who came to the table saw that it’s better to sit at the table to actually influence things, instead of risking even harder regulation.

Will the proceeds from the carbon tax on emissions be reinvested solely in agriculture?

We did that with the industries, and it will be the same with agriculture. It will be reinvested, and plus that, a lot of other money. We have created a green fund of 43 billion Danish kroner for investing, including a new tool.

This new tool is for when farmers retire – around one third of all farmers will retire over the next 10 years. So, when a farmer is willing to sell his land, and it’s a robust place where you can actually produce very heavily, we’ll buy it and offer it to a farmer that has lands that are polluting our fjords and seas or that are peatlands, so we can do a swap.

Can your approach work in other Member States?

I believe it can. It’s uncommon that as a new Minister of a whole new ministry, EU Commissioners actually come to Denmark to listen. They want to understand how to implement also at the European level. I try to inspire and to be very, very concrete on how we can do it.

This transition is even more important due to current geopolitical realities, particularly for self-supplying. It’s even more important in sustainable fuels, in wind energy, solar energy, biogas. It’s terrible that three years after the war, we are still giving more money to Russia for buying gas and oil than we are giving money to Ukraine.

It feels like a different world to when the Vision for the future of agriculture emerged, given the new administration in the US. But if anything it’s even more important for you to drive the momentum behind what you’ve done here in Denmark and in Europe.

First of all, farming is also a critical infrastructure. Second, climate change has changed the way that farmers can produce in many places in the south of Europe. This creates a bigger need for new tools in producing new plants and new crops.

It is also about combining what we’re good at in the food and agricultural sector with what we’re good at in the bio sector… how do we blend these sectors? It’s not about out-competing traditional farming, but about strengthening our sustainable production capabilities and increasing revenue through exports. Not to erase or out-compete the traditional farm and food sector in Denmark, but to strengthen our possibilities to produce in a sustainable way, but also to export and thereby create even more revenue, both for the farm food, agricultural sector jobs and to increase the growth of a robust Danish economy.