Boosting Bioenergy Collaboration between China and Denmark

Innovation Centre Denmark and Invest in Denmark hosted the large seminar on bioenergy the 22nd of April in Shanghai, which was funded by the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Danish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Higher Education.

The Danish Consul General in Shanghai, Karsten Ankjær Jensen, opened the seminar which was attended by over 100 scientists and company representatives from both China and Denmark.

“The plan for Denmark is simple: We will use less energy, use it smarter and expand the use of biomass, biogas and wind”, said Karsten Ankjær Jensen.



At the seminar top-level researchers and the most innovative companies from both China and Denmark shared their expertise and opinions on bioenergy technology development. The seminar served as a platform for developing further R&D-cooperation between and Denmark and China and to highlight the opportunities for bioenergy investments in Denmark.

“Denmark is leading the technology for the application of bioenergy. The commercialization model of centralized and large-scale biogas plants in Denmark is also of advantages. The Sino-Danish Bioenergy Seminar will boost the commercialization process of Chinese biogas industry and increase the cooperation between China and Denmark,”  said Mr. Cai Changda, Chairman of Hangzhou Energy and Environmental Engineering Co,.Ltd.

“This will make great contributions to reducing the emission of greenhouse gas and tackling the climate change. I hope that there will be more seminars-even make it regular- for the communication of biogas technology between China and Denmark.”

Denmark is a Pioneer
Denmark and China share the challenge of being countries with limited supplies of natural resources. This fact has forced both countries to develop innovative solutions within renewable energy.

For the last four decades Denmark has been a frontrunner within clean energy and environmental solutions. In 1971, Denmark was the first country to establish an independent ministry to deal with the environment. Since 1980, the Danish economy has grown by 78%, while energy consumption has remained more or less constant, and CO2 emissions have been reduced. In November 2011, the Danish government agreed on a new and historic energy strategy that reduces Denmark’s use of fossil fuels to zero per cent by the year of 2050.

Bioenergy plays a strategic role to achieve this ambition. Today, biomass accounts for approximately 70% of renewable-energy consumption in Denmark. And the new energy strategy states that bioenergy should deliver one third of energy consumption by 2035.

“This conference successfully introduced to the Chinese researchers that Denmark is leading not only Europe, but worldwide, on bioenergy research and industrialization. We hope more of these events will be held in the future to promote education, research and industrial development collaboration between Denmark and China” said Mr. Yuan Zhenhong, Executive Scientist, Biomass Energy Research Centre, Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion, Chinese Academy of Science.

The Danish delegation will the next days have individual meetings with some of the best universities in Shanghai and Nanjing and will 25-27 April participate in the World Congress of Bioenergy in Nanjing, where Innovation Centre Denmark has organised a Danish session on Bioenergy.