The Danish government was awarded the ‘Fossil of the Day’ prize last night at the UN climate summit in Paris.

The Climate Action Network, consisting of 950 NGOs from 115 countries, decided Denmark deserves the shameful award for reducing its climate targets and nearly halving its financial support for developing countries.

Former global leader
“Denmark used to be a global leader in the fight against climate change. It has long been a pioneer in wind power, set world records in renewable electricity production and introduced even more ambitious aims for the future, including independence from fossil fuels by 2050,” said Wendel Trio, the head of the network in Europe.

“But now that many other countries are following that path, Denmark seems to be losing track. All over the world, the renewable industry is continuing to grow at a breathtaking rate, triggering off job growth that strengthens economies. Denmark seems to be willing to join the group of those EU countries who are swimming against the global tide, hampering the development of the renewable sector with policy changes and reducing existing commitments.”

Performing badly
Trio pointed out that Denmark wants to nearly halve the financial support it gives to vulnerable developing countries to help them cope with the devastating impacts of climate change.

The Venstre government has also announced the country’ ambitious plans to reduce CO2 emissions by 40 percent by 2020, compared to levels in 1990, will be lowered to 37 percent.

The ‘Fossil of the Day’ prize is awarded to the countries that perform the most badly on a given day at the COP21 conference, where nearly 150 world leaders, including US President Barack Obama and China’s Xi Jinping, are debating climate change.