Denmark ranked no. 1 in the Clean Economy

Recently, strategy consultants Roland Berger issued a report entitled “Clean Economy, Living Planet” which placed Denmark no. 1 in terms of cleantech sales as a percentage of GDP – more than 3%.

The report, commissioned by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), is the first to compare countries on the basis of clean technology product sales, according to Roland Berger "and includes the 27 EU member states and all G7 and BRIC countries, and the major renewable energy and energy efficiency segments."

Denmark's excellent position thus affirms its "ability to produce and sell products and services that reduce CO2 emissions." Danish strength in wind and insulation, in particular, has gained the nation a top placement among countries like Germany and Brazil, nations with equally specialised cleantech sectors, Germany being especially focused on solar technology and Brazil on bio-ethanol.

3 F's to remember

These top nations and their particular strengths are no coincidence, but rather a result of conscious long-term government support, and the report clearly advises countries wishing to develop their clean technologies to 1) focus on developing a single technology, 2) finance cleantech consciously and 3) foster the sector by supporting a strong home market.

Keeping the spot

The report makes special reference to Denmark's Risø National Laboratory for Sustainable Energy and the Technical University of Denmark for their early government-supported research and development of wind energy. Risø and the Technical University of Denmark, which have since become part of the same organisation, were also  founding members of Copenhagen Cleantech Cluster. According to Director Henrik Bindslev from Risø: "The organisation will help sustain Denmark's place among the world's best in producing cleantech."
To this end Risø is working specifically within three areas of the cluster initiative: cooperation on testing and demonstration, knowledge exchange and matchmaking between scientists and companies. In combination, the initiative will "accelerate cleantech innovation by strengthening cooperation between public research and industry" says Henrik Bindslev.