Going carbon neutral: Lessons from Denmark
A remote Danish island is aiming to rid itself of fossil fuels.Can Bornholm do it and what lessons can be learned for elsewhere?
Bornholm – a Danish island in the Baltic Sea – is trying to go carbon neutral by 2025. It is a lofty ambition that would put the island decades ahead of most countries. This dream has been 15 years in the making; a crash in fish stocks meant Bornholmers had to reinvent themselves and they chose to become ‘the bright green island’. Since then, they have been making biogas from pig manure, building wind turbine after wind turbine, and now they are piloting new ways of storing this renewable energy, including in a battery made of salt.
The island is not just trying to rid itself of fossil fuels – it is also aiming to go zero waste by 2032. Graihagh Jackson teams up with CrowdScience presenter Caroline Steel to explore Bornholm’s double quest to go green.The changes have not just been at top-level – the island’s businesses and 40,000 residents have been encouraged to reduce their climate impact too. Graihagh visits a brewery whose production has gone carbon neutral by capturing CO2 to create the bubbles in its beers, and meets a chef whose Michelin-star restaurant uses locally-sourced food.
And over on CrowdScience, Caroline tackles Bornholm’s zero waste ambition, visiting a project turning used nappies into compost and a glassblower making tableware out of wasted insulin vials. See link below.
Will Bornholm make its bold goals, and what lessons can be learned for elsewhere?
Presenters: Graihagh Jackson and Caroline Steel
Producer: Sophie Eastaugh
Production co-ordinators: Debbie Richford and Sophie Hill
Series Producer: Simon Watts
Editor: China Collins
Sound engineer: Tom Brignell
Last on
More episodes
Previous
Crowd Science 'What does sustainable life look like?'
Broadcasts
- Sun 3 Sep 2023 13:32GMT³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ World Service News Internet
- Sun 3 Sep 2023 21:06GMT³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ World Service & ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Afghan Radio
- Wed 6 Sep 2023 01:32GMT³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ World Service
- Wed 6 Sep 2023 08:32GMT³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ World Service
- Wed 6 Sep 2023 12:32GMT³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ World Service South Asia & East Asia only
- Wed 6 Sep 2023 19:06GMT³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ World Service except East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa
Podcast
-
The Climate Question
Why we find it so hard to save our own planet, and how we might change that.