The Evening Report - April 25
Europe a global warming hot spot. Weapons pour into Ukraine.
🍃Environment & Energy⚡️
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Europe is the fastest warming continent on the planet, with global warming indicators rising almost twice as fast as the global average. That is according to the annual 'European State of the Climate 2023' that was published this week. It paints a picture of a Europe in the grips of a climate change crisis.
Published by the World Meteorological Organization and the EU's Climate Change Service Copernicus, the report found that 2023 had a record number of ‘extreme heat stress’ days. Heat-related fatalities have also risen by about 30% over the last two decades. The agencies note that heat-related deaths increased in 94% of the monitored regions across the continent.
National Center for Climate Research Commonwealth Climate Head Rasmus Anker Pedersen:
“The list of records from 2023 is long. The development is generally in line with the expectation of ongoing climate change. The temperature for Europe in 2023 is within the likely range of the climate models, but above the median among the models.”
The warming temperatures weren’t just on land, as 2023 also recorded the warmest marine temperatures on record. Parts of the Mediterranean and Northeast Atlantic experienced the highest annual mean sea surface temperature ever recorded.
With global warming comes more rain and increased flooding events. The report notes that Northern Europe saw a lot more rain, especially in Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands. Conversely, southern Europe saw a lot less rain, with parts of France, Spain, and Portugal being especially dry. Last year, a third of Europe’s rivers saw levels exceeding the ‘high’ flood threshold, while 16% suffered ‘severe’ flooding levels. An estimated 1.6 million people were impacted by floods across Europe in 2023.
Floods and Hydrology Weather Research Unit Head Simon Kramme:
“We know that with the warming, more water will come. Denmark is particularly vulnerable to flooding due to more frequent and progressively more extensive storm surges, cloudbursts, heavy rain, and prolonged periods of rain. In order to better enable emergency services to deal with floods in Denmark, DMI is now working as a hydrological warning authority.”
Elsewhere, Greece experienced the largest wildlife ever recorded in the EU with flames tearing through 96,000 hectares. However, the wildfire season overall in Europe was the fourth highest on record.
On the good news front, the energy transition in the EU, is making impressive headway, with the share of renewable energy increasing from 36% to 43% from 2022 to 2023. The silver lining to having more storms and rain is that both wind and hydropower energy production were above average last year.
🇩🇰
Wind energy farms have long been plagued by tonnes of red tape, meaning getting approvals for any new onshore or offshore wind turbines can drag on for years. Now the Danish government is working on legislation to expedite the process.
Business Minister Morten Bødskov:
“Administrative bureaucracy must not be a hindrance to the green transition. Case processing must be made more efficient so that bureaucracy and hassle do not slow down the pace of the green transition. This is a priority.”
In order to speed things along, the government is proposing a much more expedited process to deal with citizen complaints about proposed wind or solar projects. Basically, the scope of investigating complaints will be narrowed and deadlines set in order to move things along.
“Investments in the green transition must pick up the pace. We must get out of Putin's clutches and his fossil fuels. The business world is ready, but unfortunately bureaucracy and hassle often stand in the way of green multibillion-dollar investments.”
Critics are accusing the government of eroding the rights people have to register their concerns and complaints and ensure that they will be taken seriously and investigated thoroughly.
The legislation will be tabled at the end of April.
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The green energy transition has reached a tipping point on Fyn. The Danish island is turning its back on coal fired electricity production in favour of natural gas.
Fjernvarme Fyn Director Louise Høst spoke to DR to say that this is a significant step forward in the transition.
“Initially, we have converted to gas, which is 30% greener. Gas is not a long-term solution, but the green transition requires us to take some steps along the way and do it gradually.”
Fynsværket was supposed to end its use of coal in 2022, but after Russia invaded Ukraine and then weaponized its energy exports, the ensuing energy crisis delayed those plans. By switching from coal to natural gas on Fyn, it will reduce annual greenhouse gas emissions for the whole country by 1%.
Other district heating agencies across Denmark have either already made the switch or plan to do so within the next few years.
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Everywhere you go in Denmark, you can see pools of water and what look like small lakes popping up everywhere. That is due to the soaking wet winter and unrelenting rain so far this spring that is contributing to flooding event after flooding event. According to the Danish Meteorological Institute, 286 millimeters of rain fell during the winter months alone, about 100 millimeters more than on average, and the rain hasn’t let up yet.
Farmers fields are inundated with pools of water, walking paths are flooded, and rivers and lakes are overflowing their banks. In Faaborg on Fyn, two pedestrian and bike underpasses were basically swimming pools for almost four straight months. In Aalborg, paths that aren’t a muddy mess in the nature areas of Østre Anlæg and Nordens Krittgrav remain under water. Similar situations can be found all over the country, and it is forcing municipalities to rethink infrastructure that was built without flooding in mind.
Aalborg Councillor Jan Nymark Rose Thaysen:
“When you developed the city many years ago, you didn't think about keeping a ditch and a drain open, so now floods are a very natural consequence of climate change.”
Thaysen says the Kommune is considering bringing in water pumps to help restore paths and cycling routes.
“We are currently looking at possible solutions that can help some of the landowners who have been affected by floods around the municipality.”
The Danish Meteorological Institute has warned that soaking wet winters and flooding are likely the new normal for Denmark due to climate change. The agency is working on a new flood warning system. It is expected to come online next year.
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Swedish municipalities are facing off with the national government over wind farm development. Currently, municipalities in Sweden hold a veto on wind farm proposals. Over the last four years, 72% of wind farm proposals have been stopped by a municipal veto. For a year now, municipalities have been pushing for some kind of revenue sharing or reimbursement scheme for setting up wind farms in order to provide a wind energy incentive, but to no avail.
One proposal would be to allow the property taxes on all facilities used for electricity production to flow back to the municipalities. According to Swedish Wind Energy, this could mean a significant pool of money for local governments.
Swedish Climate and Environment Minister Romina Pourmokhtari insists this is a high priority for the government, and despite accusations they are sitting on their hands, she says the government is just taking the time to get it right.
“I share the frustration, but the proposals should be legally and financially designed so that municipalities and local residents profit from it and that the wind power companies want to build.”
Both Norway and Finland offer local communities reimbursement schemes for wind farms on municipal land.
⚡️🚗
Tesla beat analysts’ expectations this week - their worst expectations. The company’s latest financial numbers show that vehicle sales have plummeted. That is adding to the fiscal woes the company is already experiencing, as its share prices have fallen by half in the last two years and the company recently fired approximately 10% of its global workforce. Tesla has also cut vehicle prices in a bid to boost sales.
🦠Outbreaks🦠
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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has found evidence of the avian flu virus in grocery store milk but insists the dairy supply chain remains safe. It credits the pasteurization process for ensuring the virus doesn’t pose a risk.
“Even if the virus is detected in raw milk, pasteurization is generally expected to eliminate pathogens to a level that does not pose a risk to consumer health.”
The agency says it does indicate the virus is far more widespread among U.S. dairy cattle than previously thought. It is now conducting further testing.
Head of the Scripps Research Biomedical Institute, Dr. Eric Topal, says this latest news is discomforting.
“This isn't good, folks. I'm not worried about H5N1 transmission to humans, yet, but the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s pathetic lack of transparency, how long it took for the genomes to be released, lack of testing asymptomatic cattle all detract from [instilling] confidence.”
Scientist and infectious disease modeler J.P. Weiland is also concerned.
“Finding H5N1 bird flu, though presumably inactivated via pasteurization, in the grocery store milk supply does not fill me with confidence that we have this situation under control at the moment.”
The U.S. Centre for Disease Control and the U.S. Department of Agriculture revealed on Wednesday that H5N1 has now been confirmed in 30 dairy cattle herds across eight U.S. states. However, all indicators point to a virus spread well beyond that. The agencies believe the first avian flu infection passing from birds to cattle occurred in Texas late last year.
The global bird flu outbreak is causing a lot of concern as the virus reaches places that it has never been before while also jumping to new animal populations like seals, sea lions, penguins, cats, and dairy cattle. The worry is that by bouncing around among different animal populations, it could evolve the ability to infect and pass among humans. While there is no indication that this has happened yet, if it does, it could trigger a new global pandemic.
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As avian flu spreads among dairy cattle in the United States, experts here in Denmark are keeping a very close eye on the situation. A consortium of experts making up the Danish Health Authority for the Coordination of Zoonoses is watching closely and keeping an eye on every development. The group includes the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration, the University of Copenhagen, the Danish Health Authority, the Agency for Patient Safety, the Statens Serum Institute, the Danish Environmental Protection Agency, and the Danish Veterinary Consortium.
The Avian Flu threat assessment across Denmark has been downgraded from high to medium risk due to most bird migrations across the country coming to an end.
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COVID activity (blue line), as measured by wastewater surveillance, dipped across Denmark last week, as did infection-related hospitalizations (green line). The Statens Serum Institute categorizes virus activity as being “still at a low level” although it adds the usual caveats about “increased uncertainty” about being able to even remotely see the full picture due to the now almost entirely dismantled coronavirus surveillance systems.
Overall, hospital admissions for the big three respiratory infections, COVID, RS virus, and influenza, have hit rock bottom. The winter influenza and RS virus have both come to an end, and we appear to be between coronavirus infection waves.
🇸🇪
In Sweden, the number of COVID hospitalizations (63) has crept upward (+4) while there are currently infection-related intensive care patients (-2).
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Sweden, like many other countries, is continuing to see unusually high numbers of iGAS, or invasive group A streptococcal, infections. This is a phenomenon that began after COVID restrictions vanished in a bid to return to normal.
Swedish State Epidemiologist Magnus Gisslén says so far this year, iGAS cases “remain at an unusually high level.”
“Invasive infections caused by group A streptococci are often very serious. It is crucial that the healthcare system immediately identify and treat these. We closely follow the development together with the regions.”
The Swedish Public Health Agency thinks that COVID restrictions have likely resulted in lower immunity for things like iGAS infections, which is why we are seeing so many cases now.
The agency also notes that the number of sexually transmitted diseases, like gonorrhea, is also increasing. Again, this might have roots in the pandemic, with personal contacts and international travel increasing again since restrictions were lifted.
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In Sweden, the last week of April is Vaccination Week, highlighting the impacts of childhood vaccination and other inoculation programs. The Swedish Public Health Agency estimates that childhood vaccination programs have prevented over a million cases of measles, whooping cough, mumps, and polio.
The agency says new cases of highly contagious measles are a reminder of how important vaccines are to prevent infection spread and protect people’s health. Sweden has extremely high vaccination rates, but the agency underscores that the COVID pandemic has disrupted the usual vaccination efforts, allowing measles and other diseases to spread.
Vaccination Unit Head Sören Andersson:
“Global developments highlight the importance of caring for the resource that vaccinations are, and vaccination week is an opportunity to be proud and grateful that we in Sweden are so well placed in this area. We also want to remind you that vaccinations, by preventing the spread of infection in society, mean that the most vulnerable are better protected, when people around them are vaccinated. It also helps those who cannot vaccinate themselves due to being too young, undergoing cancer treatment, or other debilitating conditions.”
During Vaccinations Week, the public health agency is launching an awareness campaign both online and using posters and other information resources.
🇳🇴
Norway’s big respite from a winter of competing respiratory infection waves continues. The Norwegian Institute of Public Health says, with the exception of whooping cough, all is relatively quiet on the respiratory virus front.
The institute says the influenza season is over. Flu-related hospitalizations continued to drop, with just 26 last week, 31 fewer than the week before. There have been no new intensive care cases for two weeks running.
It is a similar story with COVID, with indicators all trending downward. Just 13 infection-related hospitalizations occurred last week, down from the 34 of the week before. In the last two weeks, there has been just one ICU admission.
However, whooping cough infections continue to climb as the NIPH warns that the country may be on the edge of an outbreak. So far this month, there have been 349 confirmed infections, the highest in any month since 2012. There were 328 cases in March. Children five to 14 years old are being hit the hardest.
🇨🇦
The Public Health Agency of Canada has thrown in the towel on tracking COVID hospitalizations.
“We no longer report COVID-19 hospital use. This is due to the limited amount of data available to report a valid national number and weekly trend.”
🇺🇦Ukraine/ Russia War🇷🇺
🇺🇸 🇺🇦
Badly needed U.S. military funding has been unlocked, meaning weapons and ammunition are flowing from the United States to Ukraine again. U.S. President Joe Biden signed off on a bill that had finally passed the House and Senate after being blocked for months by MAGA Republicans. That unlocks $61 billion USD for military aid to Ukraine, with a billion dollars in weapons and ammunition being supplied immediately. This includes, among other things, huge amounts of ammunition, missiles, anti-tank weapons, and armoured vehicles. Importantly, the package also includes more of the deadly accurate HIMARS missile systems.
It has also been revealed that in anticipation of the funding finally being unlocked, the U.S. moved a number of these weapons and munitions closer to Ukraine so that when the President put his signature down, arms could arrive as fast as possible.
We are also learning this week that earlier this month, the U.S. secretly supplied Ukraine with over 100 long-range ATAMSC missiles.
🇬🇧 🇺🇦
Britain is also sending Ukraine its largest ever military aid package. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak made the announcement this past Tuesday while visiting Poland.
“If Putin succeeds in this war of aggression, he will not stop at the Polish border.”
The package is valued at £500 million (about $863 million Cdn) and includes some 400 vehicles, 60 boats, 1,600 munitions, and 4 million rounds of ammunition. Importantly, the UK is also donating long-range Storm Shadow missiles along with a large number of anti-aircraft rockets as well.
Sunak also said that Britain will massively ramp up defense spending to 2.5% of its GDP by 2030.
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While the flood gates have opened and weapons, ammunition, missiles, and all sorts of military vehicles are finally pouring into Ukraine it only addresses half the problem. While Ukraine has been badly outgunned for the last few months, it also remains vastly outmanned as Russia continues to throw away tens of thousands of lives for incremental gains on the battlefield. The bloody war of attrition is wearing down Ukrainian forces.
In order to bolster the ranks, the Ukrainian government has already increased the age range for conscription, but now it is going even further. Ukrainian men “of military age” who live outside the country will be denied consular services, like renewing passports, at Ukrainian embassies.
The Ukrainian Foreign Minister, Dmytro Kuleba:
“Protecting the rights and interests of Ukrainian citizens abroad has always been and remains a priority for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. At the same time, under the circumstances of Russia’s full-scale aggression, the main priority is to protect our homeland from destruction. Staying abroad does not relieve a citizen of his or her duties to the homeland.”
🇸🇪/ 🇷🇺
Russia’s so-called ‘shadow fleet’ doesn’t just pose a potential environmental threat, it may also pose a security risk. The Swedish Navy has confirmed for the first time to national broadcaster SVT that it is tracking the movements of the aging vessels making up the ‘shadow fleet’.
Swedish Navy Chief Rear Admiral Ewa Skoog Haslum says they have documented evidence that some of the vessels may be doing more than just helping Russia avoid sanctions on its oil.
“We find antennas and masts that may not normally belong to a fishing vessel, for example, so it is clear that we feel that in what moves out at sea, there are sometimes other objectives with their activities.”
Haslum says the ships could be used to intercept and monitor signals and other communications, as well as for what she calls hybrid operations. For example, a shadow fleet tanker feigning an emergency in order to access a Swedish port.
“There is a lot that can take place in the form of a hybrid operation or something similar, so there is a whole game plan to play on.”
Concerns about the movement of the shadow fleet vessels were discussed this week at the EU Defense and Foreign Affairs Ministers summit in Luxembourg.
Swedish Minister of Defense Tobias Billström says concrete measures were put on the table to limit the movement of the aging tankers.
“There is a very broad consensus that the shadow fleet is a problem.”
The myriad of vessels helping Russia ship its sanctioned oil and gas are often extremely old and sail under various flags of convenience, with dubious and even falsified insurance coverage.
About half of Russia's seaborne oil shipments, about three million barrels per day, transit through the Baltic Sea.
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The Swedish navy is also keeping an eye on vessels from a Latvian company called Fastbunkering, which is under increasing scrutiny for helping to refuel shadow fleet tankers at sea.
“We follow it all the time. Since we see that it carries out that type of activity, we need to keep an eye on it, and it is very close to Swedish territory.”
🇸🇪
Sweden’s formal military integration into NATO is now complete. Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson signed the paperwork on Thursday and said that it was one of the fastest integration processes in NATO history.
This clears the way for Sweden’s first official military contributions to the military alliance. Kristersson confirmed that the Swedish military is already in the process of putting together a reduced battalion along with Leopard tanks and armoured CV-90 vehicles that will be dispatched to NATO bases in Latvia next year.
“The goal is for that effort to be operational from the beginning of next year after the Riksdag (Swedish Parliament) has also made the corresponding decision.”
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Something happened last Sunday night near the strategically important Swedish island of Gotland, but whatever it was, no one is talking about it. People on the island reported several loud blasts late Sunday night. The Swedish Air Force says those were likely sonic booms as a pair of Gripen fighter jets broke the sound barrier to respond to….something.
Air Force Head of Communication Louise Levin told national broadcaster SVT that it was not an exercise and the two fighter jets were “up and defending Sweden’s borders.” But she wouldn’t provide any further details.
“There were sonic booms involving a rapid response with two JAS 39 Gripen [fighter jets]. However, I cannot go into details about what type of operation it was about.”
The Swedish Armed Forces described the operation outside Gotland as urgent but completely routine.
Air Force Head of Operations Jörgen Axelsson:
“We needed to go at the highest possible speed in order to get to the right place at the right time, and when you break the sound barrier, it causes a loud sonic boom. I don't want to go into the details of this specific case, what made us start the incident response.”
Swedish Defense Minister Pål Jonson was concerned by the lack of information, and he made some calls.
“This morning I spoke with the Swedish Armed Forces about how they look at developing communication around this further, and about the balance between secrecy and transparency.”
However, even Jonson wouldn’t share details after the conversation.
“The operation that the Air Force's incident response carried out on Sunday over the Baltic Sea involved events that are within the normal scope. It's good that we have an incident response team that is ready to quickly take off whenever needed for missions to protect Swedish airspace and investigate airlines in our immediate area.”
Earlier this month, Swedish and German fighter jets scrambled to intercept a Russian military aircraft used for gathering signals intelligence that was inside the Swedish flight region.
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Gotland is a strategically important island in the Baltic, but NATO won’t be setting up a base there. NATO representatives ruled it out this week.
NATO Headquarters Deputy Chief of Staff Mark Pullan visited the island alongside other NATO representatives and members of the Swedish Armed Forces.
“The island is incredibly important in the Baltic Sea region. We decided we wanted to come here and take a look, to better understand. Being on the ground is extremely important for planners, that's what we do today.”
The Swedish Armed Forces have spent the last few years seriously upgrading the island’s defenses and increasing their military presence there. The reason why is that in every single war simulation conducted by NATO, the country playing Russia always seizes Gotland as their first move in order to control the Baltic.
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On Friday, the Swedish Defense Commission will hand in its final report on how the country’s armed forces should adjust now that Sweden is a NATO member nation. The commission is made up of Swedish parliamentarians, and they have been working on the document for the last year and a half.
🇩🇪/ 🇷🇺 🇨🇳
Every week seems to bring more shocking allegations and espionage arrests in Germany. Last week, two Russian-German dual citizens were arrested and accused of spying for Russia. This week, four more people have been arrested and accused of working for the Chinese intelligence service. One of them is an assistant to a German far-right politician with the extremist AfD party, Maximilian Krah, who is running in this year’s European Parliamentary elections. The man arrested is accused of passing information about EU parliamentary activities to Chinese intelligence.
Two others are a married couple linked to an unnamed German university who are accused of spying for China in order to pass on sensitive information about emerging technologies, some of which may be military technology.
In Great Britain, there have also been several arrests this week. Two men have been charged with breaching the Public Secrets Act, both are suspected of spying on China’s behalf.
In Denmark, there has also been an increasing focus on potential espionage efforts. Earlier this year, the Danish Intelligence Agency (PET) played a role in helping Danish universities thoroughly screen researchers from abroad to weed out potential spies. The agency described the threat as “persistent and significant.”
🇩🇰 🇺🇦
The Danish government has decided to top up the Ukraine Fund. Another 4.4 billion Danish kroner (about $864 million Cdn) is being sunk into the fund that is designed to fund weapons donations and other funding for Ukraine for at least the next ten years.
Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen:
“It is absolutely crucial that we show the Ukrainians that we stand behind them in the current serious situation.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj thanked Denmark personally in a social media post.
“I thank all parties in the Danish parliament for today's decision to increase military aid to Ukraine. We appreciate Denmark's willingness to meet Ukraine's urgent defense needs and share the strategic vision that the stronger Ukraine is, the stronger the whole of Europe will become.”
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Denmark will provide Ukraine with 2.85 billion Danish kroner (about $560 million Cdn) for an energy supply project to ensure green electricity for 500,000 Ukrainian homes.
Industry and Trade Minister Morten Bødskov:
“We know that Putin is determined to hit critical infrastructure. Stronger protection is needed.”
The money comes from a special Ukraine fund set up by the government. The ministry is not sharing a lot of details about the energy project other than that it might include partnering with Danish wind energy giant Vestas to supply wind turbines to Ukraine.
🇩🇰/ 🇷🇺
A Russian war monument on the Danish island of Bornholm has been vandalized again. This week, the monument was doused in red paint. Bornholm Police are investigating, and cemetery staff spent a good chunk of a day this week cleaning all the paint off.
The monument has been vandalized pretty regularly since Russia invaded Ukraine. Last year, someone poured ketchup all over it, and the year before that, it was painted in Ukrainian blue and yellow.
While most of Denmark was liberated from Nazi occupation in May of 1945 as Germans surrendered to approaching British and Canadian armies, things went a little differently on Bornholm. While most of Denmark wildly celebrated their newfound freedom, war still raged on Bornholm between German occupiers and Russian forces. The Russians would defeat the island’s German garrison, but in turn, the Russian army occupied Bornholm for almost a year before finally being convinced to leave.
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While a debate rages around female conscription in Denmark, the number of women serving in the armed forces has continued to increase. The Danish Ministry of Defense says the number of women in the ranks has almost doubled over the last five years alone. In 2018, there were 760 women in the ranks, a number that would rise to 1,394 by 2022.
As part of a massive increase in defense spending, Denmark, like many of its European neighbours, is also looking to increase the size of its army. As part of revamping conscription, women will be officially included in the draft beginning in 2026.
🌎
Global military spending is soaring as the threat of war hangs heavily over Europe, the Middle East, and other global hot spots. The International Peace Research Institute, based in Stockholm, Sweden, says that for the ninth year in a row, global military spending has increased. According to the agency, military spending increased by 6.8% in 2023, the largest annual increase in almost 15 years.
“The increase in global military expenditure in 2023 can primarily be attributed to the ongoing war in Ukraine and escalating geopolitical tensions in Asia, Oceania, and the Middle East.”
Unsurprisingly, military spending in Ukraine has exploded, rocketing upward by 51% year over year. However, that only puts Ukraine in the eighth spot on the list of big military spenders. The United States, Russia, and China hold the top three spots. China and the United States accounted for about half of all global military spending last year.
In the EU, military budgets have also skyrocketed, with the biggest year over year increase in at least the last three decades.
NATO 🇪🇪
Representatives from NATO and member nations met in Estonia this week to take part in the world’s largest cyber defense exercises. Cyberattacks, both from state sponsored actors and bad actors, are becoming much more common, especially after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as it fights physically on one battlefield while targeting Ukraine’s allies in cyberspace.
NATO Cooperative Cyber Defense Centre of Excellence Director Mart Noorma:
“It is the number one problem for our societies in the years to come.”
Sweden in particular saw a sharp increase in cyber attacks after it applied to become a NATO member nation and then waited for years to be admitted into the alliance.
Odds & Ends
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Low levels of vitamin D might be linked to an increased risk of developing cancer. That is according to researchers at Aalborg University. In a new study, researchers used mice to test a link between vitamin D and cancer and found that mice fed with more vitamin D were more resistant to various cancers. They then compared the data from their experiments with health data from 1.5 million Danes.
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Traffic across the iconic Øresund Bridge between Denmark and Sweden has increased significantly so far this year.
Øresundsbroen Managing Director Linus Eriksson credits the big jump in bridge crossing numbers on a new commuter card allowing for unlimited trips across the bridge for one fixed price. He says four out of every ten journeys across the bridge used the new commuter card in the first quarter.
Sightseeing and shopping traffic also jumped by 11.9% in the first quarter. However, Eriksson points to what he called a calendar effect, with Easter coming earlier this year than last.
“Danish leisure traffic continues to rise from last year's record level, and this reinforces the outlook of increased Danish interest in holidays and shopping in the local [Southern Sweden] area. Combined with the fact that Swedish leisure traffic is also now on the way up again, it is a strong start to the year's leisure traffic.”
There were an average of 16,913 people per day using the bridge in the first three months of the year, which is an increase of 4.8% compared to the same period last year. Conversely, the number of commercial trucks crossing the Øresund continued to decline, down by another 6% in the first quarter. Truck traffic has been declining steadily since the second quarter of 2023.
🇩🇰 🇩🇪
Cans of beer, cola, coder, or soda water won’t be as cheap anymore at German border stores. The EU parliament has adopted new regulations that will mean you can no longer avoid paying a deposit when you buy beer or cola by the metric tonne while visiting a German border store from 2029 and on.
Dansk Erhverv is happy with the change after 20 years of lobbying for a level playing field with Danish stores.
Deputy Director Henrik Hyltoft:
“The new rules are hugely important, and we will press for compliance to take place as soon as possible. However, there is a long time until 2029, and it is important for both the environment and fair and equal conditions of competition that there is a deposit on German cans.”
Dansk Erhverv estimates that 650 million cans come to Denmark from Germany every year without a deposit, and although many of them end up in the recycling system anyway, others get tossed away.
The new regulations also place uniform packaging requirements across all 27 EU member nations, which requires them to be more environmentally friendly. It also means that companies in any given EU country won’t have to meet 27 different national packaging regulations. The packaging requirements come into force in 2026.