Denmark Environment - 2024

Environment - current issues

air pollution, principally from vehicle and power plant emissions; nitrogen and phosphorus pollution of the North Sea; drinking and surface water becoming polluted from animal wastes and pesticides; much of country's household and industrial waste is recycled

Environment - international agreements

party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Heavy Metals, Air Pollution-Multi-effect Protocol, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Air Pollution-Sulphur 85, Air Pollution-Sulphur 94, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Climate Change-Paris Agreement, Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping-London Convention, Marine Dumping-London Protocol, Marine Life Conservation, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 2006, Wetlands, Whaling

signed, but not ratified: Antarctic-Environmental Protection

Climate

temperate; humid and overcast; mild, windy winters and cool summers

Land use

agricultural land: 63.4% (2018 est.)

arable land: 58.9% (2018 est.)

permanent crops: 0.1% (2018 est.)

permanent pasture: 4.4% (2018 est.)

forest: 12.9% (2018 est.)

other: 23.7% (2018 est.)

Urbanization

urban population: 88.5% of total population (2023)

rate of urbanization: 0.54% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)

Revenue from forest resources

0.02% of GDP (2018 est.)

Revenue from coal

0% of GDP (2018 est.)

Air pollutants

particulate matter emissions: 9.66 micrograms per cubic meter (2019 est.)

carbon dioxide emissions: 31.79 megatons (2016 est.)

methane emissions: 6.54 megatons (2020 est.)

Waste and recycling

municipal solid waste generated annually: 4.485 million tons (2015 est.)

municipal solid waste recycled annually: 1,223,060 tons (2015 est.)

percent of municipal solid waste recycled: 27.3% (2015 est.)

Total water withdrawal

municipal: 400 million cubic meters (2020 est.)

industrial: 50 million cubic meters (2020 est.)

agricultural: 530 million cubic meters (2020 est.)

Total renewable water resources

6 billion cubic meters (2020 est.)

Geoparks

total global geoparks and regional networks: 2

global geoparks and regional networks: Odsherred; Vestjylland (2023)