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Danish opposition split over future climate laws

Ritzau/The Local
Ritzau/The Local - [email protected]
Danish opposition split over future climate laws
Climate protestors in Aarhus in March. Photo: Henning Bagger / Ritzau Scanpix

Opposition parties in Denmark have differing views over a new climate law, should they gain parliamentary majority after the coming general election.

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The Social Democrats want new legislation which requires future governments to report the status on climate and make necessary adjustments once every five years.

But key support party the Socialist People’s Party (SF) does not agree with that approach, instead advocating mandatory targets for the reduction of CO2 emissions annually, newspaper Politiken reports.

“There must be an annual climate budget,” SF leader Pia Olsen Dyhr told Politiken.

“If that is exceeded – or expected to be exceeded – there should be a legal obligation to immediately set in motion new initiatives to quickly get back on track,” she said.

“We do not have time to wait three, four or five years to correct our course of greenhouse gas emissions are too high, action must be taken immediately,” she added.

The left-wing Red Green Alliance (Enhedslisten) wants a bi-annual check of Denmark’s reduction of greenhouse gases, with a legal obligation on the government to present solutions if targets are not being met.

The Alternative party, which is primarily environment-focused, has said that Social Democrat targets on climate are not ambitious enough. The Social Democrats want a 100 percent reduction in greenhouse gases by 2050, while Alternative wants the target to be reached by 2040.

Meanwhile, the Social Liberal (Radikale Venstre) party wants a 60 percent reduction by 2030 to be set. Leader Morten Østergaard has threatened to use his party’s parliamentary mandates to bring down a future Social Democrat-led government if the target is not implemented.

“We can only support a new government if it, on the area of climate, commits to a CO2 reduction target by 2030. If it does not do that, it will not have our support. We will be – actively – against it,” Østergaard said.

READ MORE: The Local's 2019 general election coverage

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