By Pauline Ongaji

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Flemming Møller Mortensen, Danish Minister for Development, spoke to Pauline Ongaji on the country’s work in promoting SDGs and green energy

Denmark has largely contained the Covid-19 pandemic. What is the secret behind this success?

We do a lot to explain to the masses; that this is very important. We are lucky that the population took the vaccines. They want to protect themselves but also they want to protect the whole population. We are also lucky we have the organisations and we can manufacture the vaccines much faster.

How has your country marketed SDGs to the people?

One thing is that we have a political system that agrees on the importance of SDGs. We also have a well organised civil society landscape. We are world champions in organising in small and bigger groups, and many of those groups have taken up the SDGs as important to them. Also, all the parties in parliament are engaged in the SDGs.

What is the level of co-operation between Denmark, which ranks high in SDGs, and African countries like Kenya, which are lagging behind?

As Denmark, we want to collaborate and co-operate closely with other countries on SDGs. Take Kenya, for example. At the Danish embassy, we prioritise SDGs. We have to look at the Kenyan culture and the political system to see which areas of co-operation can be more fruitful. But as much as it is important to achieve the SDGs, maybe all countries cannot attain this at the same time.

We see Denmark involved in fighting climate change. What is the motivation?

We can’t just use fossil fuels and make the issue of climate change even worse. We understand we have to find sustainable solutions and renewable energies.

And yet there are others who have not adopted this policy.

Do you have any advice on green economy?

We have to understand that when it comes to green energy, we have to find solutions. These solutions need big investments. We have to include private and public investment. For example, in Uganda we have had very good projects for wind and solar energy, providing green energy for a lot of people at a lower price.

Are there areas you think could drag Denmark from full achievement of SDGs?

We are consuming a lot and producing plenty of waste. But most importantly, we realise we have to solve our own problems in regards to climate change, and that is why we have developed good and sustainable systems to take care of all the consumption and the waste. We also have good integration between public and private corporations.

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BIO

Flemming Møller Mortensen is a Danish politician of the Social Democrats who has been serving as Minister for Nordic Cooperation in the government of Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen since November 19, 2020.

He was born on July 3, 1963 in Store Brøndum, Denmark.

Mortensen has been a member of the Folketing (the Danish Parliament) since the 2007 general election. Following the 2019 general election, he served as his party's group leader in the Folketing.

Since 2020, he has been a member of the Board of Directors of the Partnering for Green Growth and the Global Goals 2030 (P4G). P4G is global platform accelerating pioneering green partnerships to drive inclusive and resilient economic growth. P4G mobilizes a global ecosystem of 12 partner countries, five organizational partners and more than 240 private sector and civil society groups.

This work unlocks opportunities for more than 50 partnerships clustering around themes in food and agriculture, water, energy, cities and circular economy.

P4G is a collaborative partnership among 12 partner countries: Bangladesh, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Kenya, Mexico, the Netherlands, the Republic of Korea, South Africa and Vietnam.