Only a few days to go until 98 world leaders and hundreds of other delegates descend on Copenhagen to talk climate, energy, and CO² at the United Nations’ COP15 summit.

They’re all set to negotiate on committing our various nations to new carbon reduction targets, so of course they’ll be primed with months of research, projections, feasibility studies and so on.

But if world leaders were to get to the Danish capital a few days early and have a nose around the country that’s hosting the summit, they’d pick up a large number of clues as to what they could be doing already.

It’s no accident that Denmark is the host for these negotiations.  The Danes have been pretty focused on energy reduction since the 1973 oil crisis, and having upped the effort further in the last decade, there’s plenty of progress to put on show.

Danish lessons…

So before the Copenhagen delegates start haggling over CO² targets, here’s my rundown of five “Danish Lessons” world leaders could learn from the the country hosting the summit.

Lesson #1 – Get some political willpower

In other words: the balls to follow up good intentions, make tough decisions and keep the momentum going.

The Danes used to have an energy diversity problem.  They relied too much on coal and imported oil — the 1973 energy crisis woke them up to that.  They also used to have one of Europe’s worst per-capita CO² emissions records: 13 tonnes of CO² per capita in 1980.

But boy, have they done something about it. Their energy policies have cut dependence on imported fossil fuel. They’ve cut overall dependence on oil by 8% since 1990. They’re now more than self-sufficient in electricity production.

And there’s very little about their situation that couldn’t be imitated in other northern European countries. The turnaround has come from long term investment in renewable energy and from innovation that has driven, not hampered, economic growth.

A lot of the impetus has come from a powerful government ministry, Miljøministeriet, that gives policies the right kind of firm push—be that incentivisation or taxation, subsidy or regulation.  Successive governments have resisted the temptation to mess with the ministry; instead, they’ve let it drive policy effectively.

Unlike most other countries, Denmark never forgot the lessons of 1973, and kept driving for greater energy efficiency and a more diversified energy supply. Other countries could follow their lead by setting high environmental standards for business and at the same time encouraging the right kind of energy use through subsidies and tax breaks.

And they’ve done all this without nuclear power…

Lesson #2 – Join up your energy policies

In 1988, two years after Chernobyl, Denmark introduced ban on the construction of nuclear power plants. Removing this option meant a serious pursuit of renewable alternatives: hydropower, biomass, and wind energy in particular (see lesson #3).

The clever bit is how they’ve joined up this power generation initiative with other economic policies to foster a complete shift towards both energy self-sufficiency and falling CO² emissions.

So far, the shift has been radical enough to generated a trade surplus. Denmark’s the only EU country that’s self-sufficient in electricity: in 2007 they generated over 130% of their needs, exporting the extra. When renewable energy becomes such a large part of the picture, CO² targets aren’t so hard to attain.

Another innovation: generating electricity and district-level heating together from combined heat and power (CHP) plants.  Or, as the Danes call them, “Varmeværk” – meaning heat factories (a bit more catchy, perhaps).  This is really two innovations in one: first, if you’re burning something to generate heat, why not generate electricity at the same time?  In 2007, over 50 per cent of Denmark’s thermal electricity was generated in combination with heating.  Second, district level heating is much more efficient than individual boilers: these kind of installations have helped cut heating per m² by 29 per cent from period 1980 to 2003.

The lesson is to get today’s forward-thinking policies all working together in one big picture, not keep holding on for a magic solution (biofuels? No). Denmark’s example is that they haven’t just toyed with good ideas, they’ve been running with them for years and have concrete figures to show what benefits are possible.

Lesson #3 – Go with the wind!

Wind has single-handedly provided the increase in Denmark’s electricity generating capacity since 1997. It now provides around one-fifth of total electricity supply.

This progress didn’t just sprung out of virtuous greenness: it’s been driven along by an economic goal of developing Denmark as a leading centre of competence for wind power.

Along the way, wind turbines have gained social acceptance, not least because they haven’t been foisted on unwilling rural communities. Quite the opposite – they’ve been implemented mostly by co-operatives rather than corporations. Residents and local businesses club together to fund, install and benefit from small-scale wind farms; each wind turbine co-op issues shares to its members, and the payoff comes when they start selling their surplus energy back to the grid.

This lesson is spot-on for the British Isles: Denmark has no more wind than we do. Most of England and all of Wales has a similar windspeed to the Danish mainland; Scotland beats the lot.

Lesson #4 – Make green technology into an economic powerhouse

If you’re going to have to innovate in energy efficiency, why not make a growth-driving industry out of it?

Denmark has encouraged environmental enterprises, and the sector has been a hit both at home and in the export markets. Denmark currently exports more than £5.5 bn in eco-efficient technologies, of which £4.7 bn is in the energy sector. As the word looks to wind power, the Danes enjoy a market-leading position: 40% of world’s turbines are Danish.  It doesn’t stop at that: Danish companies also lead the way in thermostats, heating pumps, insulation and glazing.

The lesson is that environmental progress can be a boost, not a brake, to economic growth. Over the years they’ve made eco-efficient technology a Danish stronghold; now, as global demand grows, they can capitalise on their expertise.

Lesson #5 – Prioritise better building design

Of course I’m going to talk about buildings sooner or later!

Take a peek around a Danish building site and you’ll see evidence of thoroughly energy-conscious design practice.  They are also pioneering carbon positive homes: i.e. ones that create more energy from renewables than they consume, and can feed it back to the grid.

Why are they further ahead with all this than we are?

One reason: bold low energy requirements introduced with building regulations in 2005. At first there weren’t the components available to make this happen; however, the requirements encouraged building materials manufacturers to refocus their efforts, and now low-energy alternatives are available.  The first benchmark for progress arrives in 2010, the second in 2015, and the construction industry is rising to the challenge.

Another reason is a different culture of building design. Danes prize good insulation and triple glazing; draughts are minimized, and heating and ventilation work better at a whole-building level. Generally, energy conservation is something they take pride in, and have done for years.

Buildings have not only a large impact but also a long-term one that can impair progress towards CO² targets. Once again, Denmark is ahead of most countries in taking care of the carbon. I don’t have a statistic to prove it, but I think it’s a fair bet many more Danish buildings would get a high EPC rating that would most of the homes and commercial buildings we assess.

Probably the best energy efficiency in the world?

Possibly.

There are other countries with lower CO² emissions, and there are several blots on Denmark’s record (we haven’t even mentioned transport or shipping, for example).

But they’ve certainly lined up the green demands and the economic demands.  Here’s one way to measure it: Denmark achieves more GDP per watt than any other member of the E.U.

They’ve taken courageous decisions early in the game – something the COP15 delegates need to be willing to do.  They’ve avoided the nuclear route, given lasting government support to renewables and already cut the CO² in a growing economy, all as if to prove to the others that yes, it’s possible.

Perhaps the most important Danish lesson is that it mainly comes down to motivation. According to Søren Hermanson, the driving force behind the country’s biggest community wind farm, ”To us, going for lower energy use is like a sport”.  With 98 world leaders on the visiting team, and a sustainable economic future at stake, it’ll be interesting whether they can step up their game.