Green Tripartite Agreement — National Peatland Rewetting Scheme (Denmark)

In June 2024, Denmark's government and a coalition of agricultural, industry and environmental organisations — the "Green Tripartite" (Landbrug & Fodevarer, the Danish Society for Nature Conservation, Local Government Denmark and others) — signed the Agreement for a Greener Denmark, the country's first economy-wide deal to restructure agricultural land use for climate goals.

Centred on peatlands, the agreement targets ending farming on 140,000 hectares of drained, carbon-rich lowland soils and their buffer zones by 2030, financed through a Green Land Fund (Gron Fond) of roughly DKK 40 billion (EUR 5.4 billion) that pays landowners to voluntarily rewet or afforest their land, alongside a parallel 250,000-hectare afforestation target.

Analysts estimate the combined rewetting, afforestation and rewilding measures could cut Danish emissions by about 1.8 million tonnes of CO2e a year by 2030, closing part of the gap to Denmark's 70%-reduction target. Implementation began in November 2024 and remains in its early, voluntary-uptake phase.

Independent reviewers such as Green Transition Denmark have questioned whether the financial incentives are strong enough to attract sufficient voluntary participation, noting that a promised backstop — stricter nitrogen regulation from 2027 if targets are missed — has itself not yet been designed, leaving the scheme's ultimate effectiveness unproven.

Read the full analysis: https://stateofgreen.com/en/news/denmark-announces-historic-tripartite-agreement-to-cut-agricultural-carbon-emissions-and-restore-nature/