Denmark's major parties agree carbon tax on livestock

The agreement to introduce the CO2 tax is signed

Denmark's government said Monday that the country's major parties had agreed on the details of the world's first carbon tax on livestock emissions, to be introduced in 2030.

"We will be the first country in the world that introduces a CO2 tax on agriculture," Climate Minister Lars Aagaard said at a press conference.

The tax is part of a vast agriculture plan called the Green Tripartite, hammered out by the government with part of the opposition and representatives of livestock farmers, industry, and trade unions.

From 2030, methane emissions caused by cattle and pig flatulence will be taxed at 300 kroner ($42) per tonne of CO2 equivalent, gradually rising to 750 kroner by 2035.

However, a basic deduction of 60 percent means the real tax rates will be 120 kroner per tonne emitted in 2030 and 300 kroner in 2035.

Under the Green Tripartite plan, nitrogen emissions would also be reduced by 13,780 tonnes annually from 2027, in a bid to restore Denmark's coasts and fjords.

Oxygen depletion in Danish water catchments is at an alarmingly high level, the statement said.

The Green Tripartite Ministry called the accord "the biggest change to the Danish landscape in over 100 years"

"Danish nature will change in a way we have not seen since the wetlands were drained in 1864," Green Tripartite Minister Jeppe Bruus said.

According to a Danish parliamentary report, around 60 percent of Denmark's territory is currently cultivated, making it the country with the highest share of cultivated land, along with Bangladesh.

Ten percent of cultivated land will be converted to natural habitat, including 140,000 hectares (345,000 acres) currently cultivated on climate-damaging lowland soils.

Bruus said the plan also calls for planting 250,000 hectares of forest, "enough to go 38 times around the planet."

"When you travel through the country, it is a difference that will be visible and felt," his ministry said.

The agreement allocates around 43 billion kroner for the restructuring

The legislation still must be approved by a vote in parliament, for which no date has been set.

Among the main critics of the plan are right-wing populist parties, including the Danish People's Party (DF), and environmentalist groups, such as Greenpeace, which have said the plan is not ambitious enough.

"The agreement harms Denmark's economy and makes it more expensive to be a Dane, but doesn't help the climate since Denmark's CO2 emissions are minimal globally," DF party leader Morten Messerschmidt said.

"Lots of people are going to lose their jobs. I find it difficult to see the smartness of this CO2 tax," Denmark Democrats MP Karina Adsbol wrote on X.

Based on AFP reports