COPENHAGEN, Nov 20 (IPS/IFEJ) - Whether a new internationally binding treaty to reduce greenhouse gases and forestall climate change will be signed next month remains to be seen. What is clear though, is that if there is a place in the world that deserves to be the stage where this treaty ought to be signed, it is the Danish capital of Copenhagen.

Thanks to an extraordinary effort by both government and civil society to improve efficiency in the generation and consumption of energy, and massive investments in renewable energy sources, Denmark is today the only country in the world that has been able to decouple economic growth from greenhouse gases emissions (GHGE).

According to official statistics, the Danish economy has grown, as measured by gross domestic product (GDP), since 1980 by 78 percent, at prices of the year 2000. During the same period, the country's energy consumption remained practically the same.

This means that the Danish economy's energy intensity - the ratio of energy consumption to GDP - has fallen by 40 percent. Danish GHGE, especially carbon dioxide (CO2), has also decreased substantially, by some 20 percent. According to the International Energy Agency, the Danish CO2 intensity of GDP is the third lowest among European Union (EU) members, only after Sweden and France.

Both Sweden and especially France, rely heavily on allegedly CO2-free nuclear energy generation.