Truth or myth: Is Denmark a beacon of sustainability?
- The International
- 7 days ago
- 4 min read
Photographs: UN Sustainability Goals
Text: Natalia E.L. Madsen
In general, people in Denmark have the self-understanding that we are an incredibly green country. We have windmills and organic agriculture. People bicycle and drive electric vehicles. We have “nature” around cities. We recycle. But the truth is a lot more nuanced than that.
If we are to believe the latest European Sustainable Development Report 2025, Denmark is doing exceptionally well on sustainability. In fact, Denmark ranks as number 2 in Europe. However, when one looks a little closer, it becomes evident that it is not environmental action that has put Denmark high on the list, but our progress in the social dimension. Things like Denmark’s degree of digitalisation, low unemployment and decent gender equality are driving the ranking and, in my opinion, greenwashing Denmark’s sustainability profile.
To create a more holistic picture, let’s look at how Denmark is doing on the Sustainable Development Goals related to the natural environment:
Goal 12: Responsible consumption and production
According to the latest Circularity Gap Report, every Dane consumes 24.5 tons of virgin materials per year, well above the EU average of 17.8 tonnes per person (and the global average of 12 tonnes per person). In fact, if everyone lived like the average Dane, we would need 4.2 Earths to fulfill our yearly resource use.
I’ll let that last number sink in for a moment: 4.2 Earths.
Add to that the fact that Denmark’s economy is only 4 percent circular (far below the global standard of 7.2 percent), and we can all probably agree that if Denmark is leading in anything in this category, it is in overconsumption, the use of limited resources, and waste generation.
Goal 13: Climate action
If we look at Denmark’s carbon footprint per inhabitant, the picture doesn’t look much better: 11.1 tonnes/capita - also above the EU average of 9.5 tonnes/capita (Circularity Gap Report).
Directly from the Environmental Performance Index report (2024) by Yale and Columbia Universities:
“The pace of decarbonisation in Denmark, for example, has slowed in recent years, highlighting that early gains from implementing low-hanging-fruit policies, such as switching electricity generation from coal to natural gas and expanding renewable power generation, are by themselves insufficient. Cutting emissions at the pace needed will require significant and ongoing investments in renewable energy, transforming food systems, electrifying buildings and transportation, and redesigning cities.”
"Denmark's forests are among the worst in the world due to constant pressure from agriculture and urban development. 95% of Denmark's unique habitats - special salt meadows, bogs, or grasslands - are in poor condition."
Goal 14: Life below water
In Denmark, our fjords and marine areas are depleted of oxygen like never before, mainly due to nitrogen discharges from the agricultural sector. This puts our marine ecosystems in deep crisis, despite the EU’s Water Framework Directive requiring us to lower nitrogen emissions in all coastal areas by 2027 at the latest.
At the same time, unsustainable fishing practices, such as bottom-trawling, continue to harm our marine ecosystems. And when a CO2 Tax on fishing was finally introduced not long ago, it was hastily removed on false pretenses, without any documentation to support the reasons for withdrawal.
Goal 15: Life on land
Denmark's forests are among the worst in the world due to constant pressure from agriculture and urban development. In fact, 95 percent of Denmark's unique habitats—special salt meadows, bogs, or grasslands—are in poor condition. Under its National Forest Program, Denmark aims to achieve 25 percent forest cover by the end of this century, but today, even our Natura 2000 areas are a joke.
For context, Natura 2000 is a European network of protected nature areas where specific species of animals and their habitats are protected in order to safeguard biodiversity.
A recent investigation by Berlingske uncovered that there is much to be found in Danish Natura 2000 areas that has little to do with nature: massive camping sites, parking lots, whole towns of over a thousand people, conventional farmland, minigolf courses, and even a solar farm. According to “Biodiversitetsrådet” (the Biodiversity Council), 44 percent of the Danish Natura 2000 area on land should not even be counted as such.
The same “Biodiversitetsrådet” estimates that only 1.6 percent of the Danish land area today protects biodiversity sufficiently. Considering that humans depend on biodiversity for food, clean air and water, materials there is a lot of room for improvement in how we manage it in Denmark.
The verdict
Let me start by saying that, despite the harsh criticism, I love Denmark. In fact, my disappointment is only greater because I know what we are capable of. We have huge potential to do good and lead the way for others, but we choose not to, over and over again.
We look the other way while corporate lobbies manipulate necessary legislation in their favour. We self-medicate our chronic loneliness with retail therapy and cheap clutter. We are so proud of our freedom, but we ignore the fact that with freedom comes responsibility: to choose wisely, to do better, and to think of people other than ourselves.
Denmark is not a beacon of sustainability. But it could be, if we really wanted to.