Denmark’s climate minister is fairly certain that the deal to close down the nation’s oil industry by 2050, announced on Friday morning, marks the biggest moment in his career.
“I think this is probably going to be the biggest decision that I’m a part of in my life,” Dan Jørgensen told the Guardian hours after the announcement.
“This obviously wasn’t an easy decision. We are the biggest oil producer in the EU. We have, since the 1970s, to a large extent financed our welfare state with oil money. So to say, ‘stop’, and to pay the cost for that, is a big deal for us.”
To call it the “biggest decision” is nonetheless significant for the man who for the past year has been the public face of what many argue is the world’s most ambitious climate goal, Denmark’s plan to cut emissions by 70% by 2030.
In recent months, Jørgensen and Denmark’s prime minister have come under criticism for over-reliance on technical solutions, such as two “energy islands”, which together will generate 5GW of wind energy, and foot-dragging on issues like green tax reform.
Jørgensen said he hoped Friday’s announcement would show his government’s green promises were sincere “I think there’s an English expression ‘put your money where your mouth is’, and that is basically that’s what we’re trying to do,” he said.
He said the centre-right opposition Liberal party also deserved credit for backing the cancellation of the current exploration licensing round, something it had long opposed.
“This is an example of what has changed in Danish politics, that we now really do have a broad support for the green transformation,” he said. “Political parties that a decade ago would have never even have thought about this are now on board.”
The deal is binding on all future governments.
“That’s important, of course, because when we then tell the world that we will do this, they can count on it, but also for the industry, because it gives them some stability and certainty,” Jørgensen pointed out.
“Obviously, the industry is not happy about the cutoff date. They’re not happy about us having cancelled the tenders. But on the other hand, I think they will be happy about knowing exactly what conditions they have. Because when we say 2050, then that also means we’re not going to change that to 2045 or 2040.”
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