Monday Morning News & Notes

Greenland becoming more green. Russia rearming rapidly.

🍃Environment & Energy⚡️

🇩🇰

Recent calculations by Denmark’s Coastal Directorate and the Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI) have unveiled the potential severity of future storm surges that Copenhagen could face, both at present and in the future. In the most extreme scenario conceivable today, water levels could surge between 2.9 to 3.9 meters above average water levels. However, projections into 2125 suggest that with rising sea levels, this figure could escalate to a staggering 4 to 5 meters, not including the additional height and impact of waves.

Thorsten Piontkowitz, the office manager for Coastal Engineering at the Coastal Directorate, stressed the significance of these findings, noting that they lay the groundwork for a comprehensive preliminary study of storm flood protection in the capital area. The calculations consider historical storm surges and anticipate sea level rises due to ongoing climate change. Adrian Lema, head of the National Center for Climate Research at DMI, highlighted the role of climate change in intensifying future storm surges, emphasizing the need for proactive measures to mitigate potential devastation.

"Climate change and rising sea levels will make future storm surges significantly larger. While the worst imaginable storm surge today requires a confluence of several extreme and unfortunate weather conditions, the future climate will increase the risk of flooding in Copenhagen. There is considerable uncertainty about sea level rise in the long term, but the more the world reduces greenhouse gas emissions, the lower the risk will be.”

Moving forward, the feasibility study will assess coastal protection measures for Copenhagen. The report, expected in autumn 2024, will delve into specific coastal defense systems and their locations, considering factors such as the Drogden Threshold, which causes differences in maximum water levels across Øresund and Køge Bay. With the complexity of the issue in mind, the study aims to provide a comprehensive understanding to guide effective decision-making and safeguard against future storm surge threats.

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Denmark's cultural heritage sites are facing accelerated degradation due to increasingly violent weather patterns driven by climate change, according to experts.

Jørgen Hollesen, a senior researcher at the National Museum specializing in the impact of environmental changes on historical monuments, notes that 2023 was particularly harsh on Denmark's cultural heritage, marked by record-breaking rainfall and other severe weather events.

Every few years, the Danish Palaces and Culture Agency carries out condition assessments of around 90 historically important buildings and historical monuments in Denmark, and two-thirds of them are now determined to be in critical condition.

Danish Agency for Castles and Culture Architect Kjeld Borch Vesth:

“It has become very clear at Hammershus, among other sites, that something must be done here. We can also see in other places, for example at Gurre Slotsruin in North Zealand, that the masonry has fallen down, and at Gurre we have also cordoned it off to prevent anyone from getting hurt.”

While some monuments, including Gurre and Hammershus, will receive a combined 15 million Danish kroner (about $2.9 million Cdn) for repairs this year, concerns remain about the fate of thousands of other vulnerable sites. Denmark boasts around 35,000 historical monuments worthy of preservation, but many are at risk of disappearing due to weather-related deterioration exacerbated by climate change.

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A recent report from an expert group highlights the potential drawbacks of imposing a high CO2 tax on agriculture in Denmark. While such a tax would bolster Danish climate accounting, it could inadvertently shift a significant portion of emissions abroad, the report warns.

According to the expert committee, led by economics professor Peter Birch Sørensen from the University of Copenhagen, the implementation of a high CO2 tax on agriculture could lead to a decline in Danish agricultural production, particularly in sectors such as cattle farming, which might see a reduction of up to 20%.

The report outlines three tariff models for the proposed climate tax: DKK 125, DKK 375, and DKK 750 per ton of CO2 emitted. While the model with the highest tax demonstrates the most significant immediate climate impact, reducing emissions by 3.2 million tonnes of CO2, between 20 and 44% of these saved emissions could potentially shift abroad due to what experts term as "leakage."

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With many of the flood damages left unaddressed from October’s historic storm surge and a fight over how to split what little funding is being offered by the Danish government, at least one municipality is going in a different direction. In Præstø in Southern Sjælland volunteers have joined forces to crowdfund money for an outside-the-box solution. They want to raise about 1.6 million Danish kroner (about $313,000 Cdn) in order to buy 600 meters of a mobile flood protection barrier to help protect the city center. So far they have raised 600,000 kroner.

Business owners located near the city’s harbour have already purchased a similar mobile flood barrier.

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The Danish Climate Council will publish its annual report this week. The report assesses whether the Danish government is on track to reach its climate goals by 2030, or not.

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Water levels have been so high for so long in Odense that otters have returned to the river waters around Odense Zoo. Otters have rarely been spotted in that part of the river system where waters tend to be a lot more shallow, that is until this soaking wet winter. Odense Å is 54 kilometers long and is the largest river system on the Danish island of Fyn.

🇬🇱 🇬🇧

Greenland is in fact becoming more green and it is happening at disturbing speed according to a new British study. Researchers used satellite imagery to map the impacts of climate change in Greenland. What they found is that an area roughly the size of Albania has melted away over the last three decades. And this has major consequences for the climate because when the ice cap melts, more greenhouse gases leak into the atmosphere, which contribute to global warming.

University of Leeds Glaciology Professor Jonathan Garrivick:

“It is mainly man-made climate change that is the cause of the higher temperatures, which causes the ice to increasingly melt. The changed landscapes affect both the animals in Greenland's natural habitats and the changes can also pose a problem for the local population in Greenland, including their buildings and infrastructure.”

Aarhus University Arctic Ecosystem Professor Torben Røjle Christensen says the study’s findings were eye-opening.

“Over the past 30 years, there has been a dramatic change in land areas, where nature is changing as a result of man-made climate change in a way that we had not foreseen at all. It is disturbing when it happens against the background of man-made climate change, and it is also disturbing that it is happening so quickly.”

🇫🇮

Pond hockey is a big deal in Finland but this cultural foundation of Finnish culture is being threatened by climate change. According to data from the Finnish Meteorological Institute between 1860 and 2006, the average winter temperature in the Finnish capital of Helsinki has increased by more than three degrees Celsius. Additionally, the number of ice days, days where temperatures stay below freezing, dropped from 78 to 48 days in the same time period.

🚗 ⚡️

Mercedes Benz is putting the brakes on its goal of transitioning to making and selling 100% of its stock to electric vehicles by 2030. The car manufacturer is now reducing that goal by half, blaming market conditions and less demand for EVs than it had anticipated.

🇩🇰

Natural gas usage across Denmark has fallen 37% over the past two years. That is according to the Danish Energy Agency. Falling natural gas use is due to a major effort across Denmark to conserve energy along with the green energy transition to renewables like wind and solar.

🇪🇺/ 🇷🇺

Europe continues to sever its energy reliance on Russia. Before the war in Ukraine, 46% of the natural gas used in the EU came from Russia. In the last two years, that number has dropped to about 12%.

🇫🇮

The Finnish Energy Authority has launched an investigation into suspicions that electricity spot prices were manipulated or unduly influenced during a January cold snap that saw record-high energy prices. The cold snap was compounded by some technical problems at power plants, which helped drive prices way up. The energy authority says it wants to make sure that no violations were committed.

🇨🇦

Canada's Pacific Coast is set to witness a significant shift in its energy landscape as Chevron announced it is relinquishing its last 23 permits for oil and gas extraction off of Canada’s Western coast. This historic move, confirmed by Canadian Energy and Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson, marks the end of decades of offshore permits in the region, many of which fell within protected areas.

The relinquished permits, covering nearly 6,000 square kilometers, are situated close to Vancouver Island, a globally recognized protected area renowned for its extraordinary natural beauty. Chevron's decision to abandon these offshore assets follows in the footsteps of ExxonMobil, which surrendered its permits in the area in 2023.

While Canada has long aimed to bolster oil, gas, and LNG production for domestic and international markets, domestic, and partisan, politics will play a crucial role in shaping the future trajectory of the country's energy geopolitics.

🇪🇺

Inflation in the Euro area (among countries using the Euro) dipped ever so slightly to 2.8% down from December’s 2.9%. Across the whole European Union, inflation was 3.1% in January, down from December’s 3.4%.

Denmark and Italy have the lowest inflation rate in the EU with both at 0.9%. Romania, 7.3%, had by far the highest inflation rate in Europe.

According to the EU statistics agency EuroStat inflation fell last month in 15 European countries, remained stable in one, and rose in eleven.

🦠Outbreaks🦠

🇩🇰

The world’s largest study has found that serious side effects from COVID vaccines are extremely rare. Researchers from the Danish Staten Serum Institute worked with others across eight countries, Argentina, Australia, France, New Zealand, Scotland, Canada, and Finland, on the study. With almost 99 million participants researchers investigated the risk of serious side effects for a 42-day period after more than 242 million inoculations.

SSI Department Head Anders Hviid:

"Serious side effects from the COVID vaccines that we have used most at home are rare. That is still the conclusion after the world's most comprehensive study of their safety to date.”

Researchers did notice correlations between the AstraZeneca vaccine and Guillain-Barré syndrome and blood clots in the brain. Use of the AstraZeneca vaccine was discontinued in Denmark within the first year vaccines were rolled out. In addition, there were also correlations between the Moderna and AstraZeneca vaccines and acute inflammation in the brain and spinal cord. But even those were extremely rare.

"It is important to emphasize that the connection with Moderna's vaccine was only observed after the 1st dose, and we did not see signs of it after Pfizer/BioNTech's vaccine, which is the one that has been used the most at home. In absolute terms, the correlation corresponds to 1 case per 1.75 million doses of vaccine. In other words, an extremely rare phenomenon.”

The study is part of The Global COVID Vaccine Safety Project.

The study in full can be found HERE.

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Scandinavian airline company SAS is in court in Copenhagen this week. It is accused of bringing several passengers to Denmark without the required COVID test in violation of the restrictions at the time. The airline has pleaded not guilty.

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The Biden administration has allocated an additional $515 million to a major initiative aimed at studying long-COVID, marking a nearly 50% increase to the project's budget. The initiative, known as RECOVER, is based at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and was established in 2020 with a $1.15 billion investment to delve into the complexities of long Covid and explore potential treatments.

Despite its initial sluggish start and concerns raised by investigative reports from STAT and MuckRock, which highlighted delays and insufficient resources allocated for testing treatments, the NIH has pledged to use the increased funding to conduct additional clinical trials, study the physiological impacts of long-COVID on various bodily systems, assess long-term recovery, and bolster research infrastructure.

🌍

The COVID pandemic may have aided and abetted an outbreak of measles since. The World Health Organization says that in 2023 its European Region recorded 58,000 measles cases. Nearly half of those cases were among;g children under the age of 5. Numbers it says represent a “rapid increase” compared to the three previous years.

The global health agency says the COVID pandemic and its impact on healthcare systems resulted in a “significant accumulation of susceptible children who have missed their routine vaccinations against measles and other vaccine-preventable diseases.”

WHO Regional Director for Europe Dr Hans Kluge:

“Health systems in the WHO European Region have some catching up to do to rapidly reach the 1.2 million children who missed their measles vaccine between 2020 and 2022 while continuing with routine immunization. As the virus continues to spread in many parts of the Region, timely outbreak detection and response remains critical to prevent further escalation and secure the Region’s progress towards eliminating this highly contagious disease.”   

Kluge says every vaccination effort means saved lives.

“Every measles-related death is an avoidable tragedy given that there is a safe and effective vaccine to prevent the disease. I commend countries for the comprehensive response measures taken so far and caution against any complacency at this stage. We must get ahead of this dangerous disease by actively reaching out to under- or unvaccinated communities.”

Currently, there are large measles outbreaks in Romania, the United Kingdom, and the U.S. state of Florida.

🇺🇦/ 🇷🇺 War

🇺🇦/ 🇷🇺

Russia continues to lose very expensive military equipment to Ukrainian forces. A week after Ukraine sunk a Russian landing craft in the Black Sea they destroyed an A-50 Russian surveillance aircraft.

The A-50 is designed to identify enemy air defenses and coordinate targets for Russian jets. It is the 2nd time this year that Ukrainian forces have shot down an A-50. The plane is estimated to cost 350 million U.S. dollars.

🇩🇰 🇺🇦

A day after pledging to put a ten-year plan in place to support Ukraine, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen made a surprise visit to Kyiv to make it official. Frederiksen met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday. The two signed an agreement on ‘security cooperation and long-term support’.

The agreement says:

“Denmark reiterates its unwavering support for Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders as of 1991 including the territorial sea.”

This commits Denmark. and by extension the G7, to support Ukraine until its territorial borders are restored including currently occupied Crimea.

The agreement also states that it formalizes Denmark’s long-term bilateral security commitments to Ukraine.

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The second anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was commemorated across Denmark over the weekend. Government buildings in Copenhagen were illuminated with Ukraine’s blue and yellow national colours. The Ukrainian flag flew across the country and various ceremonies took place along with a protest in front of the Russian embassy were also held as well.

🇨🇦 🇮🇹 🇧🇪 🇪🇺

As Ukraine marked a second full year of war against Russia on Saturday, prominent Western leaders paid a surprise visit to Kyiv. They included the Prime Minister of Italy, Giorgia Meloni, the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, the Prime Minister of Belgium, Alexander De Croo, and Ursula von der Leyen, who is president of the European Commission. All four said they stand resolutely with the Ukrainian people over the long term.

🇨🇦 🇮🇹 🇺🇦

G7 countries continue to sign long-term bilateral security agreements with Ukraine. Over the weekend, Ukraine finalized two more agreements with Italy and Canada. The agreements are similar to the one Denmark presented with Ukraine on Friday, and which Great Britain, Germany and France have previously entered into with the war-torn country.

🇩🇰/ 🇷🇺

Russia is rearming and rebuilding its army more quickly than expected. It is happening at such a rapid pace that the Danish Intelligence Service is already rewriting a threat assessment for Russia that it tabled just two months ago.

Head of Intelligence Anja Dalgaard-Nielsen says Russia is constantly assessing and comparing its military might against that of NATO. She says that while Russia has degraded its military capabilities in the Baltic as it directs soldiers and equipment to Ukraine, that situation will change over the next two to five years.

Dalgaard-Nielsen spoke to Politiken:

“Russia can both maintain its war efforts in Ukraine and at the same time rearm in the Baltic Sea area over a number of years. They are well on their way, and to some extent, they have managed to avoid the sanctions. We can also see that they are successful in importing weapons and dual-use equipment that can be used both for civilian and military purposes.”

The agency assesses that it is "highly likely" that Russia could continue this practice, even if it is expensive and difficult to circumvent Western sanctions.

The intelligence service also warns that Russia is acting much “more provocatively" towards NATO units in the Arctic, the North Atlantic, and the Baltic Sea.

Dalgaard-Nielsen says in some ways this boils down to a race between Russia trying to rearm after losing so many soldiers and so much equipment in Ukraine and NATO countries trying to restock weapons and ammunition donated to Ukraine. If Russia rearms faster and feels it has an advantage against NATO or the military alliance is fracturing then the more likely it is that Russia could try and take advantage.

“Russia poses a serious security policy challenge because they want to do away with the established security policy order in Europe. In Russia's behavior towards us, they are looking for how strong they themselves feel compared to NATO.”

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Over the weekend Denmark’s Prime Minister issued a stark warning in an interview with the Danish newspaper Berlingske. Mette Frederiksen said Russia poses a military threat beyond Ukraine.

“I don't think you can assume that Ukraine is the final destination for Russia. I think it is an element of what can best be characterized as a Russian desire for an empire. I don't use the term Third World War myself, but I am very, very aware that there is an increasingly strong connection between Russia, North Korea and Iran, which I don't think anyone in the West can afford to take lightly.”

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The Danish Armed Forces have significantly relaxed requirements to join the military. Danish national broadcaster DR has its hands on an internal memo from the Ministry of Defense stating that people not particularly tall, those considered to have ‘sexual deviations’, and women with large breasts (yes, you read that right), will all have an easier time joining the military.

Young people face a dizzying number of challenges joining the Danish military with strict psychological, health, and physical requirements. The list of health requirements alone runs over 100 pages long. But as the Danish Armed Forces looks to significantly bolster its ranks it is making significant changes. It is also reassessing conscription parameters with a final report on that front due next month.

NATO 🇺🇦

It is time to take the gloves off. That is essentially what former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said to DR over the weekend.

“The hard truth is that the way to peace in Ukraine is through war.”

Rasmussen says Western allies need to send more weapons to Ukraine and at a much faster pace. They must also remove restrictions like forbidding Ukraine to use donated missiles to strike targets inside Russia. He says Ukraine needs long-range missiles and the freedom to do with them what they want.

“My point of view is that you must hit the targets that are necessary to prevent attacks against Ukraine. If the Russians have installed their devices and equipment and are sending missiles and drones into Ukraine, then you must hit them, even if it is on Russian territory. My argument is that we must remove all restrictions and give the Ukrainians everything they need as soon as possible. You cannot win a war with such a step-by-step strategy. You need to surprise and overwhelm your enemy, that is the shock strategy that needs to be followed.”

Further, he says it is time to stop dilly-dallying and for Ukraine to be invited to join NATO.

“This is best done behind closed doors in NATO and in the Ukraine Council. That's why I say: Let's invite Ukraine, and then we'll look at the practical issues.”

The argument against inviting Ukraine into NATO from some quarters is that would be a dangerous escalation with Russia.

“We must try to get around that argument. If you say we can't send an invitation to Ukraine as long as there is a war, then you are also telling Putin to just continue the war. Because then he prevents the Ukrainians from ever becoming a member of NATO. It is a vicious circle that we must break by making an invitation now. After all, it is Putin who has escalated this war. He has been doing this since 2008, when NATO decided that Ukraine would become a member of the alliance.”

🇳🇴/ 🇷🇺

Another sign of troubling times. Norway has deployed a new portable air defense system along its shared border with Russia. It is capable of intercepting drones, helicopters, and low-flying aircraft.

🇱🇻/ 🇷🇺 🇧🇾

The Baltic states continue to fiercely oppose Russia. Latvia has become the first EU country to ban grain imported from Russia and Belarus.

Latvian President Edgars Rinkēvičs:

“The rest of the EU must follow suit. We must stop feeding the Russian war machine.”

🇺🇸 🇨🇦 🇬🇧 🇪🇺/ 🇷🇺

A swath of new sanctions against Russia has been added to the growing pile. The United States, Canada, the UK, and the European Union all unveiled new sanctions in the last few days.

Canada has levied sanctions on 10 individuals and 153 entities as well as introducing prohibitions on goods exported to Russia that could be used in the production of weapons.

The United States sanctioned more than 500 people and entities.

The EU passed its 13th sanctions package, which includes sanctions against more than 200 people and entities that have helped Russia procure weapons. They all have been banned from traveling or doing business within the EU. Another 106 individuals and 88 entities were also sanctioned.

The United Kingdom sanctioned six people in the management of the Siberian jail where Alexei Navalny died as well as companies linked to Russia’s ammunition supply chain.

That said, Russia seems to be weathering the storm of sanctions quite well as countries like China, Brazil, and India buy up record amounts of Russian oil and gas. Further switching to a war economy has Russia’s economy pumping. The International Monetary Fund said last month that the Russian economy was growing faster than expected.

🇩🇰🇺🇦🇪🇺

The EU needs someone directly in charge of ammunition production and other defense needs. That is according to Danish Foreign Affairs Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen says a new EU Commissioner needs to be appointed for just such a responsibility.

“I both hope and believe that when there is a new European Commission after the European Parliament elections, you will also have to design a commissioner targeted for the task of building up a European defense industry. There is a need for that.”

The EU promised last year that it would supply one million artillery shells to Ukraine by the end of next month. The EU's Foreign Affairs Chief Josep Borrell said they only managed to fulfill "a little more than half of the promise" before the deadline. This is of course alongside the need to also produce enough shells to build local ammunition stockpiles back up.

🇳🇴 🇬🇧 🇳🇱 🇺🇦

Norway, the UK, and the Netherlands will begin a year-long initiative this spring to offer special naval training to Ukrainian soldiers. The training program will begin in the Netherlands with trainers from all three countries taking part.

Norwegian Defense Minister Bjørn Arild Gram spoke to NRK:

“We must help Ukraine to keep trade routes in the Black Sea open. The goal is to strengthen Ukraine's naval defense and improve Ukraine's ability to operate along its own coast.”

🇩🇪

Donald Trump has unwittingly sparked a heated debate across Europe but most recently in Germany about Europe having to stand on its own against Russia without American help. On that topic, Former German Justice Minister and current Vice-President of the EU Parliament Katarina Barley has raised the idea of a shared European nuclear deterrent. Barley told the German newspaper Tagesspiegel that "on the way to a common European army, nuclear weapons can also become a theme".

The military and nuclear weapons are a sensitive subject in post-World War II Germany. During WWII German and American scientists were in a race to create the atomic bomb. The thought of Adolph Hitler’s Nazis being the first to such a weapon of mass destruction would make most people shudder.

The reaction to Barley’s comments has been divisive. While some current and former German politicians support the idea others have lashed out against it. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz dismissed the idea outright saying “I will not participate in that debate.” Others have called the idea a “dangerous escalation” or outright accused Barley of losing her mind.

All of this is a reaction to Donald Trump saying his administration would not only not come to the aid of a NATO ally if Russia attacked but would encourage Russia “to do whatever the hell it wanted” to any NATO country that, in his mind, is not paying its fair share. Those comments have sent shockwaves across Europe.

🇩🇪 🇺🇦

German arms manufacturer Rheinmetall is planning to build a weapons factory in Ukraine. The company has signed a letter of intent with a Ukrainian partner company. According to Rheinmetall's CEO, Armin Papperger, they want to contribute to the "rebuilding of the once strong defense industry in the country". The factory would begin by churning out ammunition before expanding to also produce armoured vehicles.

NATO 🇳🇱 🇺🇸 🇬🇧

Two powerful voices in NATO are backing a candidate to become the alliance’s next Secretary-General. With Jens Stoltenberg set to depart the position later this year, both the United States and the United Kingdom have thrown their support behind Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte for NATO’s top job. Danish Foreign Affairs Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen has also called Rutte "a strong candidate for the post".

Stoltenberg has been Secretary General of NATO since 2014 and is serving his second year-long extension in the position since he indicated he wanted to move on. It is widely expected he will become the next Governor General of the Central Norwegian Bank when he leaves his position at NATO.

🇫🇮

Finnish soldiers and hundreds of reservists will be seen across the country throughout the first week of March. That is when the Finnish Armed Forces conduct their annual defense drills. The exercises are meant to test local defense and battle preparedness.

🇪🇺🇺🇦

In December, EU leaders and heads of state agreed to open accession negotiations with Ukraine to join the European Union. Those negotiations were supposed to begin in March but, as so often is the case in EU accession negotiations, it appears things are already off track. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen says “work is still being done on the negotiating framework” and it is likely those talks won’t begin until after the looming EU elections. She also added that with member states having the final say "there is development in relation to the various negotiating positions".

🇬🇧 🇺🇦

The United Kingdom has sent another weapons package to Ukraine. Among other things, it includes 200 Brimstone missiles, a precision-guided anti-tank missile, for the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

Odds & Ends

🌓

More moons have been discovered in our solar system. Powerful telescopes in Hawaii and Chile have found a new small moon orbiting Uranus and two more moons around Neptune.

Scott Sheppard, an astronomer at the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington, spoke to the Associated Press:

“We suspect that there may be many more smaller moons that have not yet been discovered.”

The newly discovered moons bolster the number orbiting Neptune to 16 while Uranus now has 28 moons.

🇩🇰

Old arguments die hard. In 1920 residents of the Schleswig-Holstein region voted to join Germany instead of Denmark. 104 years later the Danish minority living in the German border town of Harrislee successfully convinced the city council to put place names in Danish on municipal signage.

🇬🇧

More than 4,000 homes and over 10,000 people had to be evacuated over the weekend in the British city of Plymouth over the weekend. It was due to a 500-kilogram German bomb from WWII being unearthed in a garden last week. It is the largest evacuation in the UK since 1945.

The bomb had to be carefully removed, placed delicately in a thick bed of sand on a truck, and then driven at a snail’s pace to the harbour where it was towed out to sea and detonated.

🇩🇰The Week Ahead Round Up🇩🇰

Monday, February 26:

The iconic Boy sculpture at ARoS Aarhus Art Museum has been joined by two more of Ron Mueck's captivating sculptures in an anniversary exhibit of the artist’s iconic work. You can now experience Boy from 1999 sculpture alongside two of Mueck's other stunning works: A Girl from 2006, a 5-metre-long and highly detailed sculpture of a newborn baby, and Woman with Shopping from 2013, a sculpture of a woman, slightly smaller than life-size

The exhibit, which lasts until January 2025, can be found at the ARoS museum in Aarhus.

Learn more and buy tickets HERE.

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The special exhibition ‘Egypt - Obsessed with Life’ at the Moesgaard Museum in Aarhus continues. Step into an Egyptian burial chamber among equipment and canopic jars with the deceased's organs and see how the ancient Egyptians took life with them into death.

Moesgaard Museum, for my money the best museum in Denmark, can be found at Moesgård Allé 15, in the Aarhus suburb of Højbjerg.

You find more information and buy tickets HERE.

Tuesday, February 27:

The World Maritime Forum is being held in Copenhagen this year. It features “dynamic presentations and intense discussions” to move the industry forward into a more efficient and greener future.

The two-day forum begins today at AC Bella Sky Convention Center, Martha Christensensvej 10.

You can find more information HERE.

Thursday, February 29:

The National Geographic Society opens a photography exhibit called Pristine Seas: Bringing the Ocean Back today. The exhibit draws on over a decade of global expeditions to document the impact of climate change on the ocean and how best to protect it.

You can find it at the Maritime Museum of Denmark on Ny Kronborgvej 1, in Elsinore.

Learn more HERE.

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The Nordatlantiske Filmdag 2024 (North Atlantic Film Festival) begins today. The festival runs until March 10 and will focus on portrait films about art pioneers and notable individuals. There will also be Icelandic art house films as well as short films from Greenland and the Faroe Islands.

It will be held at Nordatlantens Brugge in Copenhagen.

Find more information HERE.

Friday, March 1:

The Press Photo of the Year will be announced today.

The awards ceremony takes place at 1:00 p.m. at Det Kongelig Bibliotek in Copenhagen.

Saturday, March 2:

The annual Copenhagen Bike Show begins today. The two-day event is the biggest bicycle show in the Nordics.

It takes place at Lokomotivværkstedet on Otto Buses Vej.

You can find out more HERE.

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The Danish National Handball team will play its last match in the 2024 European Championships qualifiers. Denmark faces Poland.

The game begins at 4:00 p.m. at the Ballerup Super Arena.

You can buy tickets HERE.

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The 2024 Liquorice Festival takes place today. The organization says attendees can explore the liquorice universe tasting products within chocolates, cakes, tea, spices, beer, and cocktails.

The festival takes at Haaning Collection in the Copenhagen suburb of Bagsværd.

You find out more information HERE,

Sunday, March 3:

Today there is an opportunity to get a sneak peek at the Mozart Plads underground metro station in Copenhagen. The new extension of the M4 line is expected to officially open this summer.

If you want a look head to Mozarts Plads in Copenhagen.