Businesses play a key role

COWI’s Industry and Energy director, Brian Seeberg, emphasized the importance of breaking free from the silo mentality and promote efforts across sectors and businesses. Each business has its own unique perspective and there is a lot to gain by adding more players to the green narrative.

The Energy Minister was joined on the panel by representatives from Ørsted, HOFOR, Vestas, Grundfos, PKA and COWI, who debated how businesses can contribute to the green agenda and deliver innovative solutions by entering into dialogue with policy-makers. 

Efficiency and sustainable energy are equally important

Vestas focused on the need to push forward technological innovation to maintain Denmark's elite position globally. Senior Public Affairs Manager Ask Møller-Nielsen from Grundfos emphasized the need to remember that energy efficiency is just as important as sustainable energy:

"I get a little worried when I hear catchphrases such as: 'Why save on energy when it's green?' There are multiple opportunities for improving energy efficiency in housing and production. We are at least 15.000 people in Denmark who work with energy efficient solutions," he said.

Don’t turn your back on power plants

From Bioenergy and Thermal Power in Ørsted, Thomas Dalsgaard revealed that the rumour of the death of power plants has been greatly exaggerated and pointed out that we will most likely rely on power plants for quite a while. It is important not to shun the plants when making energy policy.

"The power plants are there when the wind does not blow, and the plants are now operating with biomass so they are also part of the green transition," he said.

A common focal point was to continue down the same path with a longsighted perspective, remember where you excel and improve upon those areas to stay on top.