The Folketing's Energy Policy Committee and European Affairs Committee
The European Commission,
Energy Commissioner Mr. Andris Piebalgs,
B-1049, Brussels,
Belgium.
22 September 2006
Ref. 05-001323-89
Statement regarding the Commission's green paper on European
energy strategy – KOM (2006) 105
Dear Andris Piebalgs,
The Danish Parliament's Energy Policy Committee and European Affairs Committee forward
herewith a joint statement regarding the Commission's green paper on a European energy
strategy.
The statement, which was adopted on 22 September 2006, is reproduced in the following.
Statement:
Initially, we would like to thank the Commission for the green paper on a European energy
strategy. In our opinion, it is extremely important to work on the preparation of a unified,
ambitious, and well-founded joint energy policy based on in-depth analysis and an open
discussion of the major challenges we will be faced with at Community and national level in
the coming decades: greater dependence on imported fuels, the reduction of greenhouse gas
emissions, support for innovation, job creation, and economic growth. Denmark has many
years of experience with these three key concepts in determining its national energy policy,
and our comments should therefore be viewed in the light of this experience.
The Danish Parliament's Energy Policy Committee has been working with the Danish Board
of Technology for eighteen months to set up a number of scenarios for 2025 with the aim of
examining the opportunities for reducing CO
2
emissions by 50 per cent and oil consumption
by 50 per cent by 2025. This work has been extensively discussed by a working party
comprising representatives from a broad segment of the Danish energy sector and also
discussed in four open, one-day arrangements in the Danish Parliament. The most interesting
of these is a combination scenario which shows that by concentrating vigorously on energy
conservation in particular, wind power, and biomass, it will be possible to reach the goal of a
50 per cent reduction without this costing more than it would do to continue along the existing
lines. The benefit of these measures in the form of new jobs and an increase in energy
technology exports has not been included in the calculations.