New incentives to boost green Danish economy

A  new Danish investment fund of EUR 270 million has been established by the Danish government and its supporting parties to boost green developments.

The establishment of a green investment fund is the cornerstone of a new political agreement between the Danish Government and its supporting parties SF(the Socialist People’s Party) and Enhedslisten (the Red-Green Alliance). The purpose of the investment fund is to help set up loans on reasonable terms for investments in energy savings, renewable energy, and resource efficiency in companies.

The fund will start up with a state guarantee of loans up to a total of EUR 270 million (DKK 2 billion) in 2014-16, expected to be loans from the private market, like pension funds. The fund will, eventually, be strengthened further to a max loan capacity of EUR 670 million (DKK 5 billion).

Minister of Finance Bjarne Corydon: “We give Denmark a green injection. It will not only be a benefit for the environment – it will also strengthen the leading position of the Danish private sector within environment and climate and will mean new green jobs and export opportunities.”

Minister of Climate, Energy and Building Rasmus Helveg Petersen: “It is important for us to strengthen the green transition and green innovation. New jobs and new ideas strengthen Denmark and all Danes.”

It is estimated that the initiatives can create about 7,000 new private jobs.

Furthermore, two other initiatives in the new three string plan, purposed to speed up the green investments in Denmark, has been agreed. A green investment pool directed at supporting small and middlesized enterprises, working with green technologies. The pool will help innovation and development of solutions in water, climate adaption, nature and environment and resource efficiency. Finally, an innovation forum for green solutions and sustainable production is established to inspire the ambitions of the government to support the green transition in production and business.

Source: Danish Ministry of Finance / State of Green