Denmark’s Agricultural Transition Policy– Fiscal Mechanisms for Plant-Based Sector Development (Rethink Priorities)

In 2019, Denmark was swept by a wave of climate protests inspired by Greta Thunberg. These demonstrations, which saw over 100,000 Danish youth take to the streets (Barrett, 2019), played a pivotal role in making climate change a central issue in the 2019 general election (Sorensen, 2019). The public pressure led to a broad political consensus to adopt an ambitious target of reducing carbon emissions by 70% by 2030. This target, originally advocated by Greenpeace, was embraced across the political spectrum. For a couple of years, plant-based food made up only a tiny part of the plans to achieve the target, partly due to the low salience and perceived low tractability of actions in this area in the face of a strong agricultural lobby. However, the facts around agriculture’s impact on the climate and biodiversity crises provided a background for the actions discussed in this case study to give plant-based foods political legitimacy as a solution (according to activist Rune-Christoffer Dragsdahl of the Vegetarian Society of Denmark). A key milestone was reached in the government’s 2021 agreement on a green transition of the agricultural sector which proposed to establish a National Action Plan for plant-based food, subsidies for farmers growing crops for human consumption, and a Plant-Based Food Grant.

It has been estimated that capturing just 1-3% of the global plant-based market could generate €600 million to €1.8 billion and create up to 27,000 jobs (National Action Plan, 2023). Health-wise, the government found that if Danes fully embraced climate-friendly dietary guidelines, the country could save up to €1.6 billion annually in healthcare costs while improving public health by increasing healthy life years (Jensen, 2020). Environmentally, shifting to plant-based diets could reduce Denmark’s climate footprint by 31-45%​ (Mance, 2024). While the actions described in this case study could not achieve these outcomes themselves, they show the potential of the shift that these initiatives may be contributing to.

This case study focuses on the Plant-Based Food Grant as the most concrete mechanism to expand both supply and demand of plant-based foods. The case highlights the importance of sequencing policies to achieve incremental success and how to form strategic partnerships across NGOs, industry, and government. The case will also explore the key role of the Vegetarian Society of Denmark as a central node in the network of partnerships across the value chain that allowed policies to receive broad support. We received input from the Vegetarian Society of Denmark and conducted online research to gather information for this case study.