Nitrogen compensation fund rises to 1.92 billion kroner

The parties behind Denmark’s green tripartite agreement have agreed to increase the compensation fund for the new nitrogen regulation model to 1.92 billion kroner in 2027, DR reported.

The amount is 692 million kroner higher than originally agreed, the Ministry of Nature and Animal Welfare said on its website.

The nitrogen regulation is intended to improve the aquatic environment and help restore marine life in Danish fjords and coastal waters. The model, which is part of the Fertiliser Act, has faced criticism from the farming industry.

“We need to tackle oxygen depletion and bring life back to our fjords and along the Danish coasts,” Minister for Nature and Animal Welfare Christian Rabjerg Madsen of the Social Democrats said. “At the same time, it is important that farmers receive the necessary help to adapt.”

The compensation was set based on an assessment by the University of Copenhagen of the costs that nitrogen regulation will impose on agriculture next year.

Funding for the increase

Of the additional 692 million kroner, 500 million will come from the government’s proposed budget for next year. The remaining 192 million kroner will be redirected from a reserve for subsidies for biochar storage, also known as pyrolysis.

The funds can be redirected because some of the conditions for opening the pyrolysis tender in the latter part of this year have been delayed.

New model from January

Last December, the then Social Democrat-led government and the other parties behind the green tripartite agreement, including the Socialist People’s Party, Liberal Alliance, the Conservative Party and the Danish Social Liberal Party, agreed on how future nitrogen emissions from agriculture would be distributed.

From next year, farmers will receive quotas for their nitrogen emissions into fjords and coastal waters. The quotas will be adjusted as new measurements show how much nitrogen the aquatic environment can withstand and as farmers convert farmland into nature.

The temporarily increased nitrogen regulation will be phased out as farmers take land out of production and reduce their emissions. Farmers will be encouraged to remove land suitable for wetland restoration from cultivation instead of farming it.

The new nitrogen regulation model is due to enter into force on January 1 next year. Together with improved wastewater treatment, it is expected to reduce nitrogen emissions by approximately 10,100 tonnes a year.