It is the target of the Danish government that all of Danish energy supply is to come from renewable energy in 2050. The target serves objectives in relation to climate politics and energy security, as well as economic ones.
In March 2008, The Danish Government appointed a Commission on Climate Change, which consisted of ten scientist, each possesing special knowledge in the fields of climate, agriculture, transportation and economics.
On 28 September 2010 the Climate Commission presented its suggestions as to how Denmark in the future can phase out fossil fuels, as is the vision of the Government of Denmark. The Danish government has presented it's energy policy towards 2050 in 'Our furture energy'. Also, the former Danish Government made a follow up of the suggestions made by the Comission in its Energy Strategy 2050 from February 2011.
One of the assignments charged to the Climate Commission was to analyse specific national and international proposals for substantially reducing the emission of greenhouse gases.
The Commission’s work had to reflect the ambition of the European Union (EU) that developed countries should collectively reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases by 60% to 80% by 2050.
The task of the Commission was to present proposals for new proactive instruments for an energy and climate change policy with global and market-based perspectives that contribute to cost-effective attainment of the long-term vision. The Commission also had to asses new fields of technology and the potential for the market-based development of these technologies with the aim of implementing the long-term vision and asses the extent to which effective implementation requires internationally coordinated cooperation.
Katherine Richardson, Pro-Dean of the Faculty of Science at the University of Copenhagen was the chairman of the Climate Commission.
The Climate Commission was served by a secretariat, located at the Ministry of Climate and Energy, with attendency by the Ministry og Economic and Business affairs, the Danish Ministry of the Environment, and the Ministry of Finance