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Copenhagen aims to eliminate fossil fuel-burning cars by 2030

Every party in Copenhagen City Council backed a resolution on Friday to kick polluting vehicles out of Denmark's capital city by 2030.

Published: 5 May 2023 15:51 CEST

Copenhagen aims to eliminate fossil fuel-burning cars by 2030

A charging station for an electric vehicle. (Photo: Emil Helms/Ritzau Scanpix archive)

Feasibility studies, which will be presented at the end of the year, will outline plans to set up charging stations and other infrastructure. Representatives will also be looking for “social balance” in the way this initiative is implemented, Rasmus Steenberger, urban development spokesperson for the Socialist People’s Party (SF), told newswire Ritzau.

In 2021, a political majority supported the ability of municipalities to create “zero-emission zones” where no cars with internal combustion engine can drive — however, this was never codified in law.

READ MORE: Copenhagen to get 1,000 new electric car charging ports

Somewhat predictably, a move that could boost sales of new cars is applauded by Danish car manufacturers. Mads Rørvig, managing director at industry interest group De Danske Bilimportører, said that the 2030 deadline gave citizens a reasonable timeline to upgrade away from old fossil fuel-burning vehicles.

“We know that the future is zero-emission cars,” Rørvig told Ritzau. “Electric cars will probably dominate the picture when we look a little further ahead. Therefore, we see it as quite natural that the City of Copenhagen will make this requirement in the future.”

READ MORE: Can ‘middle class’ Danish people afford to own a car?

Member comments

Anonymous - 5 May 2023 at 18:52 CEST

And what is the plan to recycle the eleven million tonnes of lithium ion batteries to be discarded by 2030? What is the environmental & human cost of producing electric batteries? “Amnesty International says the use of child labor, in the extraction of minerals used to make the batteries that power vehicles undermines ethical claims about the cars.
Climate change should not be tackled at the expense of human rights.

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Danish government to ban import of clothes containing 'forever chemical' PFAS

The decision to cut out PFAS in imported and Danish clothing products was announced by the Ministry of Environment in a statement.

“A national ban on the import and sale of clothes, shoes and waterproofing agents with PFAS is an important step on the way to limiting its emissions and will have a genuine environmental effect in Denmark,” Environment Minister Magnus Heunicke said in the statement.

READ ALSO: Danish government criticised for failure to reduce PFAS contamination

Clothing, shoes and waterproofing agents are among the largest sources of PFAS in Denmark’s environment, according to the ministry.

Non-PFAS containing products are available as alternative options on the market, making a ban viable, it said in the statement.

An exception would apply for professional and safety clothing, which have different safety and functionality standards.

Project leader with the consumer interest group Forbrugerrådet Tænk, Claus Jørgensen, praised the announcement but said he would prefer the ban to be extended to child strollers, furniture and carpets.

The national ban would apply until any EU ban on PFAS in products comes into force, the ministry said.

Business organisations raised concerns over enforcement of a ban that would apply in Denmark but not the EU.

“Shops and retailers trade on the international market, where there is no production specifically for Denmark,” the Danish Chamber of Commerce’s environment and circular economy manager Anette Ejersted said.

“We therefore want to see the final proposal to assess how it will affect the retail trade in Denmark,” she said.

The government is expected to prepare an executive order for the ban by July 1st next year, with a one-year phasing in period, making it effective from July 2026. It will not apply to products purchased before this date.

What are PFAS?

PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are a large group of synthetic chemicals used in various products since the early 1950s. Their past uses include foam in fire extinguishers, food packaging and in textiles, carpets and paints. Also known as ‘forever chemicals’, they persist in water and soil and can cause harm to human health.

Due to their chemical properties, they take a long time to break down and can be found in very low concentrations in blood samples from populations all over the world.

They are, however, unwanted in the environment because they have been found to have concerning links to health complications. Their use in materials which come into contact with foods, like paper and card, has been banned in Denmark since 2020.

PFAS have been linked to a series of health complications and, if ingested in high enough amounts, are suspected of causing liver damage, kidney damage, elevated cholesterol levels, reduced fertility, hormonal disturbances, weaker immune systems, negatively affecting foetal development and being carcinogenic.

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