Because
municipalities are close to the people and the local economy, they
exert a strong influence in bringing about reductions and
savings.
The Climate and Energy Ministry works closely together with
Local Government Denmark (LGDK) and municipalities to reduce energy
usage.
A voluntary agreement with LGDK was entered into in the autumn of
2007 giving more power to municipalities. The agreement ensures
that municipalities implement the same energy saving schemes as
state institutions are obliged to do. The agreement with LGDK will
run until 2012, when a joint assessment of the initiative will be
conducted.
Many municipalities are already making major efforts to reduce CO2
emissions and energy consumption. The Climate and Energy Ministry
is also supporting municipalities through the following
initiatives:
EcoCities
Kolding, Skive, Copenhagen, Århus,
Albertslund and Herning have due to their local efforts proved to
be frontier examples regarding climate and energy issues in
Denmark, and have been appointed as Denmark’s official
EcoCities.
The Minister of Climate and Energy
has appointed the EcoCities due to how the municipalities locally
have managed the climate and energy challenges, herein production
and consumption of sustainable energy sources and energy
security.
With the appointment, the EcoCities
have committed themselves to initiate a number of intelligent,
future proof, and ambitious initiatives that will stand out both on
a national and international scale.
The project will support the promotion of local climate and energy
efforts and inspire to new initiatives. This will be conducted
through sharing knowledge and experiences that both the EcoCities
and other energy aware Danish municipalities have built up.
Read more about EcoCities here.
The Municipal CO2 calculator
The Climate and Energy Ministry and LGDK have developed a
municipal CO2 calculator. The calculator is an interactive tool
designed for use by local councils to calculate its CO2 baseline as
a geographical entity, as well as to prioritise which instruments
should be considered in future climate initiatives.