Niels Peter Nørring
Danish Agriculture and Food Council
Climate Director
Since 1985, Niels Peter Nørring has worked at the intersection of national, European, and global agricultural and climate policies. For the past 26 years, he has served as a Director at the Danish Agriculture & Food Council, representing the entire Danish food cluster – including Danish farmers and some of Europe’s largest farmer-owned cooperatives within the dairy, pork, grain, and seed sectors.
In 2019, he was the driving force behind Danish agriculture’s vision to become climate neutral by 2050 – the first of its kind among agricultural and cooperative organizations worldwide. Since then, he has worked closely with successive Danish governments to support the implementation of the country’s ambitious climate legislation, including the binding target of a 70% reduction in national greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 (compared to 1990), with agriculture contributing a 55–65% reduction – importantly, while allowing the agricultural and food sectors to remain competitive and continue to grow.
His work focuses, among other things, on practical, scalable solutions for sustainable food systems – from reducing greenhouse gas emissions at the farm level, increasing the production of renewable energy, and establishing Power-to-X industrial clusters, to promoting carbon sequestration – all without compromising food security.
Most recently, Nørring has played a central role in the negotiation and implementation of Denmark’s groundbreaking Green Tripartite Agreement, bringing together government, agriculture, and environmental organizations to define a common path forward. He has long been a strong advocate of constructive dialogue and partnerships – both nationally and internationally – and believes that national climate ambitions only make sense if solutions are shared globally.
In addition to climate policy, his work also heavily involves the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the European Union. With a newly proposed CAP reform underway, the Danish Agriculture & Food Council is working to shape a common policy that supports European agriculture in the green transition while safeguarding food security.
Earlier in his career, Nørring served as Agricultural Attaché at Denmark’s EU Representation in Brussels and as Secretary to three successive Danish Ministers for Agriculture and Food.
