AARHUS, Denmark: Near Aarhus city on Denmark’s east coast, former farmland is being transformed into forests under a US$6 billion plan to convert 10 per cent of the nation’s agricultural land into natural habitats.
The aim is to cut the amount of fertilisers seeping into the groundwater, depleting its oxygen levels and harming marine life in the process, as well as capture carbon from the environment.
The European Union (EU) has pledged more than US$700 million to support landowners who participate in this environmental transition.
The bloc has also set a 2040 target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 90 per cent compared to 1990 levels.
However, its broader anti-deforestation efforts have struggled to get off the ground.
RESTORING NATURE AND THE CLIMATE
Mads Flinterup, head of climate and biodiversity at nature management firm Hedeselskabet, said Denmark’s afforestation plan could rejuvenate both its waters and the country’s climate ambitions.
“If we take the carbon-rich soils and make them wet again, then we’ll have better carbon sequestration in them. Where we do afforestation, the trees will sequester the carbon, and that will also mitigate the climate crisis,” he added.
The process of rewetting Denmark’s peat-rich soils helps trap carbon that would otherwise escape into the atmosphere, while new forests absorb more of the greenhouse gas.
Through projects like this, Danish authorities plan to plant 1 billion trees over the next two decades.
HESITATION ON DEFORESTATION LAW
In 2023, a landmark EU deforestation law sought to ensure that imported commodities such as palm oil are sourced from vendors that do not contribute to deforestation.
The regulation has faced pushback from several EU member states and trading partners such as Indonesia and Malaysia.
They argued the new rules could disrupt trade and impose heavy costs on producers, and have called for a delay in enforcement.
Helena Wright, policy director at investor network FAIRR Initiative, believes such hesitation sends the wrong message.
“A lot of people are emphasising, obviously, the geopolitical context and security … as big issues, but there are a lot of people from the business community and others pointing out we need to maintain the focus on climate and on deforestation,” she said.
CLIMATE AMBITIONS UNDER PRESSURE
The EU’s 2040 emissions target has also faced criticism for including “flexibilities” – such as a clause that would allow the bloc to soften its goals if Europe’s forests fail to absorb enough carbon dioxide to compensate for industrial pollution.
The concern follows data showing Europe’s trees now absorb a third less carbon dioxide than a decade ago, as logging and climate change take their toll.
Proponents say they are being ambitious while staying pragmatic, but critics believe this risks weakening the bloc’s commitment to genuine pollution cuts.
Lena Schilling, a Green Party member of the European Parliament, argues that such concessions also weaken the bloc’s credibility.
She is among lawmakers pressing for the bloc to deliver on commitments it has already made.
“(We are not taking) the ambition to strengthen our forests, to have deforestation regulation, forest monitoring,” she said.
“No, we just weaken our own targets … and that’s so senseless, you could never explain that to a child.”
For now, countries like Denmark are pressing ahead with their own climate initiatives, hoping to keep Europe’s broader environmental targets on the right path.