Tale til Ingeniørhøjskolen i Aarhus

Thank you.
It's great to be back in the city of smiles.
This morning I visited the Danish clean tech pioneer
Solum,
which is turning organic waste into valuable biogas
through the so-called Aikan Technology.

But that's not all Denmark has to offer.
Aarhus is literally the Capital of Wind Energy.
The region generates almost 90% of the turnover in
the Danish wind industry and employs 14.000
highly skilled workers,
making this city the world's largest centre of
knowledge and research in wind energy.
This is crucial for our position in the global energy
race.

And that's what I'll focus on today.
Because as one of those GRAND CHALLENGES
OF THE 21st century,
energy will to a much greater degree than before
determine countries' wealth and power.
And YOU play a leading role in our endeavour to
match this challenge.

3 reasons
But why has energy become so crucial?
I would say for three reasons:

1. The first one is connected to the increasing
amount of energy consumers worldwide.
By 2050, the world's population is projected to
increase to 9 billion.

While the number of consumers on Earth is going up,
the world's reserves of fossil fuels are going down.

Bob Dudley, the CEO of BP, recently said,
that the world will require about 40 % more energy
in 20 years time,
that is basically twice the consumption of either
the United States or China!

Some might intervene by saying that we have easy
access to (shale) gas - at least for a while -
and surely there is plenty of coal out there.
But the environmental downsides of both these
sources are considerable.

So what it all boils down to is the very fact that
fossil fuels will become a scarce and expensive
resource and that it will trigger a tremendous market
for green energy.

According to McKinsey, clean tech centres of
growth are developing a global market potential of
approximately 2,5 trillion dollars in 2020.
I recently met the Chinese minister of science and
Technology Wang Gang.
He claims, that clean tech is the most popular topic
amongst students in China.

Why? Because they are following the money.

2. My second point is more related to grand politics,
or international relations if you like. Exactly
because fossil fuels are becoming a scarce resource,
it will empower those countries that are still net exporters.
In fact, as the former US Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice, said:

''I can tell you that nothing has really taken
me aback more, as Secretary of State, than the way
that the politics of energy is 'warping' diplomacy
around the world. It has given extraordinary power
to some states that are using that power in not very
good ways for the international system,".

Just take Africa. You won't be able to understand
African politics, if you do not have an understanding
of for instance China's import of oil and gas from the
continent.

If one really wants to drive home the point about how
energy policy has become security policy(one simply
has to read out the list of the countries' with the
biggest oil reserves:
• Venezuela
• Saudi-Arabia
• Iran
• Iraq
• Kuwait

Well, without getting into a long analysis of each of
the countries - I think it's pretty clear that these are
not countries that share our values.

3. My third and final argument is connected to
climate policy. We simply cannot continue our
overreliance on fossil fuels if we are to have any
chance of living up to the two degree target.
Green house gas emission from fossil fuels is responsible for the largest share of all GHG emissions, so we cannot deliver without reducing our dependency on fossil fuels.

As climate minister, and having participated in both
COP 15 and 16, I obviously knew this before I went
to Greenland this summer.

But I must admit that it also gave me food for thought,
when we got stuck on the ice cap because it was too warm - the snow was
too soft for the plane to take off. A three hour visit
to the ice core research centre nearly became a long
summer stay - with no clothing and only one book!

So - energy policy is one of the grand challenges of
the 21st century, and in Europe things have only
been further highlighted by the recent events in
Germany.

After Fukushima, as you know, the German
government has decided to abandon nuclear energy.

So by 2022 Germany will have to replace 30% of its
nuclear electricity with other sources.

It commits Europe's largest economy to double its
energy from renewable sources to 35% this decade,
in combination with strongly increased energy
efficiency.

A tremendous task.

Indeed, according to some
reports it could cost as much as German unification,
but it will obviously also kickstart investments and
hence be a huge asset for the German green tech
industry - and for that matter also the Danish one!!

And that leads me to Denmark.

ES 2050
In Denmark, we embarked upon our first paradigm
shift in energy policy when the oil crisis struck us in
the 70-ties. So, we are first movers.

Back then we chose to prioritise energy savings and
renewable energy.

And we didn't stop, when oil started to flow again in
the 80's.

And just as importantly:
Throughout the years, we have shown that investing
in renewables goes hand in hand with economic
growth.

In fact, since 1980, the Danish economy has grown
by almost 80%,
while our energy consumption has remained more or
less constant and C02-emissions have been reduced.

And what is more: today, almost 10% of our exports
come from clean tech - and it is now part of the
Danish brand on the global scene,
making us the number one exporter of clean tech
within the EU.

Last year we were even made fun of in the
Simpsons.
Normally that's an honour restricted to Bono or
American Presidents.

But in this particular episode,
Homer - under the clever supervision of his
daughter Lisa - buys a wind turbine from the Danish
wind industry.
And quite correctly, wind is introduced as "the
energy that powers Denmark".

In February this year, the Danish Government
presented the "Energy Strategy 2050 - from coal, o i l
and gas to green energy".

Our goal is to be independent of fossil fuels in 2050.
The government has presented an ambitious package
of concrete initiatives, which in 2020 will

- reduce the use of fossil fuels with one third in the
energy sector,
- increase the use of renewable energy to a share of
33 % and
- lower the energy consumption with almost 10 %

We will show that economic growth can be achieved
while phasing out fossil fuels.
And with less energy than today!

Wind energy alone will cover more than 40% of
electricity consumption,
which will form a unique world record.

This reminds me of the time President Obama was touring the
US, no more than a couple of years ago,
showing off Denmark's 20% wind energy as the
perfect example of a green country.
Now we're doubling that number.

So far our strategy is only a government proposal -
we are negotiating with Parliament, butwe also
need to strengthen our cooperation with universities
and the industry at least in two ways.

First of all, we need more research.
In many areas technology is not yet developed.
Just take low carbon transport.
To be sure, here we need both more basic AND
applied research; especially in close cooperation
with the industry.

And I 'm happy to learn,
that Vestas and Siemens Wind Power just recently
decided to strengthen their research activities in
Denmark to the benefit of the Danish wind IQ.

Secondly, together we can hopefully develop
initiatives that can broaden the talentpool entering the
universities in the clean tech area.

Frankly, already today, we lack graduates in the clean tech area.

A way to enlarge that number is to persuade more
women to study natural sciences.
That's why we just launched a new initiative to
entice more girls to do exactly that.

To be sure, since I 'm also the Danish minister of
Gender Equality this is an issue which is very close
to my heart...

And I 'm delighted, that a young Danish woman just
won the prize as The Best young European scientist
for her research in hydrogen storage.
Research like that is crucial to enable our transition
towards a greener energy system.

Outro
Obviously no one can predict the future,
but we do have a pretty good notion of the means to
break free from fossil fuel dependency in the next
ten years.

As the first man on the moon - Neil Armstrong -
once said:

"Science has not yet mastered prophecy.
We predict too much for the next year and yet far
too little for the next ten. "

And that's where you come into the picture.
Obviously it will not be us politicians who will
design the next solar airplane or the next mega
turbine. It will be YOU .

In order to succeed you need global competences
and colleagues all around the world...
and that's why summer schools like this one is such
an excellent idea.
So I hope that many of the foreign students will fall
in love with the City of Smiles and the Danish students - and come back for your master, ph.d. or post doc.

And for the Danish students...although we need you
here in Aarhus, we know that you have a better
chance of excelling if you also become exposed to other international universities and obtain an international network.

So, who knows, you may meet a fellow student here
who will persuade you to study at his or her university or country.
And that is exactly what international summer
schools are all about.

I would, however, be naive if I thought that all you
will be doing while enrolled here is studying.
I hope some of you will join me in the cheering of
our local football team AGF at the match against
Silkeborg, at least the second half of the game.

So thank you for listening, and thanks to the
organisers for making it all happen.