How has Denmark influenced European policymaking in Environmental Research Paper

How has Denmark influenced European policymaking in Environmental Policy How has Denmark, in turn, been influenced by the Europ - Research Paper Example In 2009, Denmark hosted the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen under the 15th Conference of Parties (COP 15) to address the issues of global climatic change, and how this dire problem could be resolved (Denmark 2010). In similar manner, Denmark also gains a lot from several environmental policies and regulations designed and promoted by the European Union Commission as described below (European Commission 2010). 2 Denmark has been popularly regarded as an environmentally friendly society where people and Government pay serious attention to the principle of environmental protection. The Danish Government has many great environmental policies and practices that are effective and exported to other European countries for similar applications or implementations. Some of these environmentally friendly programs include but are not restricted to the following policies: (i) The Development of Industry-environment Policy:- Denmark shows the other European countries that it is possible to establish a commission that would oversee the relationship between governmental environmental agencies and the industry in a country with the hope to forming a cooperation between the two parties for the purpose of preserving the environment. What the Danish Government did in this case was to set up an investigation on how much pollution the industries caused in the country. After a thorough investigation, it was discovered that Danish industry was solely responsible for the hike in the rate of pollution. To combat this problem, the Danish Government established Pollution Ministry, which specifically makes recommendations for environmental laws, policies and regulations. This approach is effective in stemming the degradation of the environment in the sense that Danish industries are expected to give account 3 of their activities regularly to the agencies under this Ministry with the intention of solving the pollution problems completely (Wallace 26). This policy has b een reportedly copied in other European nations where pollution had become a serious socio-economic problem. It is also Denmark’s hope that this policy will be adopted by almost all European Union countries so as to establish a well-rounded environmental policy that would help Europe Union to control the extent of pollution in the sub-region. Pollution has many far-reaching implications: some of them include causing health hazards, the destruction of farmland produce and making air unfit for breathing. (ii) Creation of Ecocities:- Denmark is one of the countries in the European Union that initiated the policy of establishing Ecocities where governmental laws and regulations about environmental protection are strictly implemented or practiced in order to study the impact of such policies over a period of time (Denmark 2010). What the administrators of Ecocities do is to make sure that the natural resources are consumed appropriately, energy usage should be moderate and the fos sil-fuel sources of energy should be minimized. Water is the main natural resource that is expected to be used wisely in Ecocities. Also, there are programs that aim at creating avenues for people to go â€Å"green†, that is, adopting lifestyles that pay attention to the use 4 of energy-saving alternatives (Denmark 2010). Doing this, Denmark has encouraged other EU countries to take up the challenge of establishing similar Ecocities in their areas. Ecocities are projected to reduce the amount of