Danish lawmakers have agreed on a deal to plant one billion trees and convert 10% of farmland into forest and natural habitats over the next two decades to reduce fertiliser usage.
The government called the agreement “the biggest change to the Danish landscape in over 100 years.”
“The Danish nature will change in a way we have not seen since the wetlands were drained in 1864,” said Jeppe Bruus, head of Denmark’s Green Tripartite Ministry, created to implement a green deal reached in June among farmers, the industry, the labour unions and environmental groups.
Under the agreement, US $6.1 billion has been earmarked to acquire land from farmers over the next two decades.
Danish forests would grow on an additional 250,000 hectares, and another 140,000 hectares, currently cultivated on climate-damaging low-lying soils, must be converted to nature. Currently, 14.6% of the land is covered by forests.
The deal was reached by the three-party Danish government comprising the Social Democrats, the Liberals and the Centre Moderates, the Socialist People’s Party, the Conservatives, the Liberal Alliance and the Social Liberal Party.
A vote in parliament on the deal is considered a formality.
In June, the government said livestock farmers would be taxed for the greenhouse gases emitted by their cows, sheep and pigs from 2030, the first country to do so as it targets a major source of methane emissions, one of the most potent gases contributing to global warming.
From 2030, methane emissions caused by flatulence from cattle and pigs will be taxed at a rate of US $65 per tonne of Co2 equivalent.
“We will be the first country that introduces a CO2 tax on agriculture,” Climate Minister Lars Aagaard said.
The tax is part of a vast agriculture plan called the Green Tripartite, hammered out by the government, farmers and unions.
