Imagine a World free from climate change.
Imagine a World free from wars fought over Oil.
Imagine a World free from smog.
Imagine a Green World.
It’s a dream. But for a dream to come through you need a vision and then a plan.
This weekend the Danish Prime Minister Mr. Rasmussen in his capacity as leader of the Liberal Party launched his vision. It is a vision that according to Mr. Rasmussen should deal with interconnected economic challenges, security issues and climate change at the same time. The point of departure is his concern about the world’s addiction to fuel.
High and fluctuating fuel prices tend to destabilise the world economy. Fuel can be used as a malign instrument in foreign and security policy. And the use of fuel for energy is creating climate change, which again is a challenge to the global economy and security.
Mr. Rasmussen asks us to consider the massive technical advances since the first Ford T automobile to today’s most sophisticated cars. One thing has remained unchanged. Its energy source. It was fossil fuel then. It is fossil fuel today. So what is needed is a new industrial revolution – a green market economy.
For Denmark, the leader of the liberal party’s vision is a society free from fossil fuels. A Denmark that is totally free from the use of fossil fuels as Oil, Gas and Coal. According to Mr. Rasmussen this is a gigantic challenge and it will take a long time to turn into reality. But as he says: Every journey starts with the first step.
I personally find this vision very intriguing. It is as far as I know not yet a confirmed policy of the Danish Government, nor of the Parliament. It is a vision that probably demands broad consensus on the political level and in civil society in order to materialise. Even if Denmark should succeed in becoming fossil fuel free it would not save the world (probably not even Denmark for that matter) from the consequences of climate change nor from economic instability or security concerns. But if other countries (apart from the usual suspects USA, Germany, Japan etc. I am also thinking about a country like Jordan), that share the same concerns, would follow suit then we might see this as our generation’s “Man on the Moon” project.
I can easily imagine that this is a topic that will be discussed intensely by NGOs and civil society in the run up to the Global Summit on Climate Change one year from now in Copenhagen.
When/if more material in English on a “Fossil Fuel Free Denmark” becomes available I’ll try to post it here.
So far there is this short article.
And of course President Kennedy’s famous “Man on the Moon” speech from 1961, the introduction paragraph is remarkable.
November 18, 2008 at 21:49
That’s interesting since in Germany the Greens just passed a resolution stating that they will work to make the share of renewable energy 100 % until 2030. Is there something like a schedule for this Danish project?
November 19, 2008 at 08:47
Dear Simon, No timetable yet as far as I know. But I imagine that people in Copenhagen are working overtime in order to change the vision into plans for action for the Government to adopt and then to be debated and voted upon in Parliament. But I have no specific info.