This is a CTP of initiative: INFORSE ‐VE (Denmark)
November 2001: No national funding In November 2001, the Danish Government changed, and suddenly all national funding of ‘green’ initiatives was stopped. AV: The change of government in 2001 had a major negative impact on the entire sustainable energy area in Denmark. The funding for public enlightenment, on which many of the local environment and energy offices depended heavily upon, stopped. On a national scale it meant that a lot of the staff in local environment and energy offices lost their job. This lead to the closure of many local environment and energy offices. All national funding schemes of renewable energy are stopped. The board of KMEK reacted promptly, analysing the possibilities of having the office surviving with only the most basic activities running. Some projects had to be given up or reduced. However, KMEK had a number of projects, not funded by the Danish national state, but City of Copenhagen. These projects made it possible for the office to survive.
As the entire ‘green’ environment is hit at the same time, the chances of collaboration gets smaller. The Ministry of Energy and Environment is reduced to a very small ministry. Research in renewable energy and other environmental issues is no longer funded by the government. AV: not only the funding of grass-root activities disappeared – all funding for researchers disappeared as well. A number of the people, we used to collaborate with, lost their jobs.
The social-democrat Svend Auken had tried to turn the Ministry of Energy and Environment into a ministry with the same influence as the Ministry of Finance, from the day he started in office in January 1993. A number of activities related to sustainable development got support: technological development, research, environmental protection etc. Farmers are increasingly angry due to the ministry’s ‘disturbing’ attempts to protect the aquatic environment. Svend Auken recognised that especially the production of wind-turbines could become an essential part of Danish economy – this way not yet recognised by right-wing politicians
This critical turning point is about the very serious conflict between the ministry of environment and the farming industry. The massacre on ‘green’ initiatives can be seen as the revenge of the right-wing party ‘The Left’ and the farmers that are supporting it. People arguing for sustainable development are being categorised as ‘members of a tasting panel’ – people that think they are important but easily can be ignored. The ideology of ‘The Left’ was to minimize the influence of the state. AV: This was clearly a political battle – a war of revenge against those who had supported Svend Auken.
People in VE had anticipated that a change of government would decrease funding opportunities. No one had, however, imagined the extent of the massacre on ‘green’ initiatives. No one had foreseen that all areas of sustainable energy would be hit hard by cuts at the same time.
The most important lesson learnt was not to depend on only one source of financing, but to take care of having many different sources. This lesson was learnt in a very harsh way for all those local environment and energy offices that had to shut down. To be financed by the state had been creating a false sense of security for some, who had not used opportunities to find other means of funding. AV: In KMEK we learned how important it is not to be dependent on a single source of funding. We survived because we had a number of different types of projects – and different types of funding. It was decisive not to be financed by the state only. The shift in government in 2015 had the same effects with cut-downs in budgets, and the lessons learnt in 2001 are still valid – you have to find different ways of getting funded.
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