No Danish Homes Will Be Heated by Gas From 2035, Country's Parliament Pledges

Earlier this month, the Danish Energy Agency issued an early warning due to uncertainty about the Nordic country's gas supplies, calling on fellow Danes to save energy. Today, wholly 800,000 Danes live in homes powered by gas, which has cast doubt over the feasibility of the government's plans to go fully green in a matter of years.

A broad majority in the the Danish parliament (all parties except the New Right) has agreed that all gas in Denmark must be green by 2030, and that starting from 2035 no homes will be heated with gas.

The cross-party political agreement covering the entire Danish political spectrum from the Danish People's Party on the right to the Red-Green Alliance on the left makes it easier and cheaper for the country's homeowners to get rid of their oil or gas boilers. Danes will also be advised on other energy sources and offered loan terms for their fossil fuel boilers to be replaced by district heating or heat pumps. Furthermore, district heating companies will be obliged to present a plan to phase out natural gas in heat production.

The parties also agreed to quadruple the production of solar and wind energy on land by 2030 and quadruple the output of offshore wind turbine power over the next 8 years.

The agreement stems from a government proposal called “Denmark can do more II,” which aims to convert Denmark into a green power plant for entire Europe. Danish Climate and Energy Minister Dan Jørgensen claimed it was “absolutely crucial” for the climate, emphasizing the dire need to make Denmark independent of Russian energy.

Today, about 400,000 Danish homes, which corresponds to some 800,000 people in the nation of 5.8 million, are dependent on gas, a certain part of which comes from Russia.

“The agreement is broad, green and ambitious and ensures a very, very large expansion with sea and land wind power. In the slightly longer term, we will be completely shut off from gas for heating - and Denmark will keep its green jersey on,” climate spokesman for the Social Liberal Party Rasmus Helveg Petersen told Danish Radio.

However, the Danish District Heating Association voiced concerns that the politicians won't equip district heating companies with “necessary tools to make the ambitions a reality.”

“There is a lack of financial help for those homeowners who want to replace their gas boilers with green district heating,” the association stressed, emphasizing a “lack of security” for the large investments the district heating companies must make in order to comply. Nevertheless, it praised the initiative to phase out “expensive Russian gas” from home heating.

Earlier this month, the Danish Energy Agency issued an early warning due to uncertainty about the Nordic country's gas supplies, calling on fellow Danes to save energy.

In 2021, Russia was the largest exporter of oil and natural gas to the European Union, covering wholly 40 percent the bloc's consumption. Despite efforts by the EU to wean itself off Russian gas and plans to cut the deliveries entirely, citing Russia's special operation in Ukraine as a pretext, in the first 18 weeks of 2022, Russia still accounted for approximately 25 percent of EU's gas consumption, according to Danish Energy Agency.