Pioneering greenhouse policy.

• Author: Roodman, David Malin
• Position: Global warming

Something is rotting in the state of Denmark. It is called biomass, and is mostly made up of manure, straw, and wood chips. Local farmers in a northern province of the Jutland peninsula dump it by the truckload into a cooperatively owned biogas plant - a large, closed tank that siphons off the combustible methane that evolves from natural bacterial decay. Along the way, the farmers are getting energy from a clean (if somewhat unsanitary) energy source and making extra money as well. Government subsidies for this project are just one of the ways a couple of small European nations are leading the industrialized world toward sustainable energy policy.

When global temperatures rose noticeably in the late 1980s, renewing fears of long-term global warming, both the Netherlands and Denmark were quick to respond. The Netherlands declared its intention to cut domestic carbon dioxide emissions 5 percent by 2000, and Denmark announced that it would aim for a 20 percent reduction by 2005 and 50 percent thereafter. Germany and several other European countries have also announced reduction targets, but Denmark and the Netherlands have actually translated their goals into comprehensive plans and begun implementing them.

Certainly, these small countries have an easier time changing policy directions than do heavyweights like France and the United Kingdom. Their total populations (15 million Dutch plus 5 million Danes) only slightly exceed the combined tally for the capital cities of Paris and London, and are relatively homogeneous in terms of income and cultural origins - which tends to minimize social divisions, promote a productive relationship between citizens and the government, and foster a national sense of community that is essential for addressing tough, long-term problems.

In the Netherlands, a widespread awareness of environmental limits also seems to have spurred government activism. After decades of industrial development, the Dutch have come too late to realize that their landscape, with more people per square kilometer than any other European country - and probably more chemical plants, oil refineries and pesticide-intensive farms - has become the most polluted in Western Europe.

Since energy comes in so many forms, and is used in so many ways, no single policy measure, unless draconian, could possibly suffice to reverse a historical climb in national carbon emissions. Recognizing this, both the Danish "Energy 2000" plan, introduced in 1990...