Expert would have told the minister ‘Be careful’
A new announcement from Climate Minister Lars Aagaard about lower greenhouse gas emissions from low-lying soils, and a rapid achievement of the climate goal for 2025, may well end up having to be changed again. This because there are other calculations on the way that could point in the opposite direction, according to Jørgen E. Olesen, head of section at Aarhus University and the researchers behind the new calculations. “If I had been Lars Aagaard, I would have called me first,” he says, and when asked what he would have said, he said: “I would have said be careful”.
On Wednesday afternoon, Minister for Climate, Energy and Utilities Lars Aagaard announced that Denmark’s emissions of greenhouse gases are about two million tons less than previously assumed. This is based on new calculations from Aarhus University, which has studied low-lying soils. In the calculations made so far, it has been assumed that low-lying soils constantly emit greenhouse gases. However, no account has been taken of the fact that some of the soils containing CO2 disappear over time. The discharge therefore stops earlier than assumed.
The new estimates are thus based on a look at how large an area of low-lying soil emits greenhouse gases – but not exactly how much is then emitted. This is where the problem arises. The researchers from Aarhus University are still working on other calculations that may show that the remaining emissions are greater than assumed. /ritzau/