This speech was written for Danish Minister for Climate, Energy and Building, Rasmus Helveg Petersen to be delivered at IPCC and WMO’s Workshop on Communicating Climate, Paris, France, April 2, 2014. You can also read about the reception of the speech on social media afterwards here – Behind the Weather Talk.    Talking about the weather Thank you for having me. It is truly a pleasure to be here, a pleasure I have been looking forward to for a long time. After all, it is not every day that you get to talk back to the weather reporter. This time you are the ones in the seat listening and I am the one talking. But we are here for a serious reason. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has just released a report about the effects of climate change, climate adaptation and vulnerability. Soon they will release a report about mitigating climate change. That is worth...

I wrote this speech to Danish Minister for Climate, Energy and Building, Martin Lidegaard to be given at Oil Gas Summit, Oil and Gas Denmark, Copenhagen, September 10, 2013. The speech was published in Vital Speeches International december 2013.    Oil and Gas on the Green Scale Almost every day I am asked by the media or ordinary citizens: How can Denmark, one of the most ambitious green front runners of the world, at the same time pursue to be an active and ambitious explorer and producer of oil and gas? And let me also start my keynote today by addressing that crucial question. In Denmark we don’t see the two ambitions as contradicting each other. We see them as preconditions to each other. In Denmark we have broad political backing for using the Danish resources of oil and gas to the largest possible extent. Denmark is an oil and gas producing country and we will use that to...

This speech was written for Danish Minister for Climate, Energy and Building, Martin Lidegaard to be delivered at the Professional Lighting Design Convention, Copenhagen, Denmark, November 1, 2013.   The Green Light at the End of the Tunnel Climate change is already here, it will shape our future and it will force our economies to become sustainable. It will be a challenge for all of us – but also an opportunity. There is a green light at the end of the tunnel. The green light is the knowledge that we can combine sustainable with profitable and comfortable. We have the traditions, the technology and the creativity. All we need is someone to put them together. We can do that! And we have to do that! In Denmark we have a strong tradition of innovative lighting. In 1903 the Danish doctor and researcher Niels Finsen was awarded the Nobel Prize. He was a researcher in light and health....

This speech was written to Danish Minister for Climate, Energy and Building, Martin Lidegaard to be delivered at 21st European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, Copenhagen, Denmark, June 3 2013.   Biomass and a Clean Green Guarantee In Denmark we have set sails with an ambitious course for a green transition. Over the past 30 years the Danish economy has grown steadily while energy consumption has remained almost unchanged. Between 1990 and 2010 Denmark has more than tripled the share of renewable energy. And we are not done. Our visions are crystal clear. We are set for a fossil fuel free energy and transport system with 100 pct. renewable energy by 2050. By 2035, all electricity and heating will be generated using renewable sources. That means that by 2020 half of the power consumption will be wind power and more than 35 pct. of the final consumption will come from renewable...