Working on Agriculture’s Climate Impact
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Everything is depressing on the climate front and that was before Trump was elected. It’s not as if any nations are taking climate change seriously enough to do anything real about it and so while nations continue to meet, it’s hard to even see the slightest bit of progress.
Well, there are so many problems. One of course is our addiction to cows and their products. Then one of the things that make that so tough is that almost every society in the world sees eating meat as a sign of wealth and success and this stuff is so deeply invested in cultures that the politics behind telling people to be vegans are disastrous, although I completely understand that to do so would be a very big way to fight climate change. So, in hoping that maybe something better can be done in agriculture, here’s an example from Denmark that might give you a glimmer of hope.
Denmark’s groundbreaking new agriculture and climate policy, which taxes greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from livestock production, restores nature and pays farmers to reduce nitrogen pollution, is the world’s most comprehensive national effort to address the environmental challenges of agriculture.
Globally, agriculture and associated land use change contribute around one quarter of GHG emissions. To keep global warming below 1.5 degrees C (2.7 degrees F) — or even under 2 degrees C (3.6 degrees F) — governments must take ambitious action to reduce emissions from food systems. However, so far, governments have only devoted a fraction of their efforts to reducing agricultural emissions as they have for fossil-fuel emissions.
Agricultural emissions are particularly significant in Denmark. Today, they contribute more than one quarter of Denmark’s GHG emissions, and with the country’s expected measures to decarbonize energy and transport emissions, agriculture could account for the majority of national emissions within a decade. The country has set ambitious goals to reduce overall economy-wide emissions by 70% by 2030.
Since 1990, Danish farmers have already made some progress by reducing excess nitrogen use — which helps mitigate harmful nitrous oxide emissions — and by increasing the efficiency of the dairy and pork sectors. But until recently, no policy existed that would achieve the country’s announced goal to reduce agricultural emissions by 55% to 65% by 2030.
In June 2024, Denmark announced a Green Tripartite Agreement between government, the environmental community and the agriculture industry, which combines regulatory teeth and largescale government funding to address emissions. The comprehensive policy will simultaneously reduce the country’s nitrogen pollution and improve biodiversity by restoring peatlands and planting new forests.
These new measures complement Denmark’s previously announced efforts to increase production of plant-based proteins and to reduce food loss and waste. The capital city of Copenhagen, which has signed WRI’s Coolfood Pledge, reduced its food procurement-related emissions by 25%, a year earlier than the original 2025 goal, by reducing its consumption of meat and shifting toward plant-based foods. Taken together, these efforts make Denmark a leader in the Produce-Protect-Reduce-Restore actions that WRI research has shown are necessary to feed a growing world population while reducing GHG emissions and restoring nature.
It does take government leadership, absolutely. We won’t be getting that anytime soon! We’ll see if Denmark can get a handle on this though.