More Expensive Gas, Please!

Copenhagen beach with offshore wind turbines in the background.
The Danish Prime Minister said something the other day that you won't hear many other statesmen in OECD countries say:

Namely that petrol prices need to be raised drastically in order to clear the way for environmentally-friendly technology and to free us from our dependence on oil. He was quoted in the New York Times by Thomas L. Friedman who met with the prime minister on a recent visit to Denmark.

"I've observed that people in all other countries, including the USA, are complaining about rising gas prices. The cure isn't lowering prices, but instead we should raise them further in order to break our dependence from oil."

"We will propose a new tax reform with an even higher tax on energy and the money raised from this will be used to lower the income tax - so we will strengthen the incentive to work and the incentive to save energy and develop sustainable energy sources", said Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Danish Prime Minister, to Thomas L. Friedman. Read his opinion piece Flush With Energy here.

It remains to be seen if it will happen. The current government are not environmental angels and the proposal has been met with skepticism from the other parties in the government. But a quote is a good start.

Source [among others]: Politiken & DR

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