Name: District heat - Denmark national average, delivered basis
Creator: Danish Energy Agency (Energistyrelsen)
License: https://ens.dk/om-os/datapolitik

Value from 2024 onwards

0.0637kgCO₂e/kWh

Fossil only · CO₂ only

FossilBio CH₄Land useBio CO₂EN 15804 GWP-fossil

2024–

Default: the latest year−11.6% on 2023

Region: Denmark DK
Boundary: Well-to-use
Data quality: MediumRated by us, not by the source
Licence: Open · DEA terms

Where 0.0637 comes from

Published as one number

DEA prints this factor as a single figure, with no parts to add up.

Reporting this kilowatt-hour under the GHG Protocol

Scope 2 + Scope 3, category 3 0.0637

This one figure covers both together; no split between them is given.

You buy the energy, so its generation is your Scope 2.

The fuel behind it and the energy lost on the way to you are Scope 3, category 3.

CiteAPI

The factor, standardised

Every factor on open-climate.ai answers the same questions in the same words, whatever the publisher. Open any ⓘ for the definition.

Heat and cooling › District heat and steam · Denmark · per kWh · Average

Category: Heat and cooling › District heat and steam; Browse it to compare every publisher's factors
Activity: District heat - Denmark national average, delivered basis; DEA: CO2-emission pr. forbrugt enhed fjernvarme [kg. pr. GJ] **
Region: DenmarkDK; Not on the record; set from DEA's coverage
Per unit: kWh; Published as kg. pr. GJ; multiplied by 0.0036 to serve it per kWh
Data type: Average; No supplier named

Well-to-use · Fossil only

Boundary: Well-to-use; Generation and network losses
GWP method: None: the value counts CO₂ alone; CO₂ weighs 1 in every IPCC report, so no GWP applies
CO₂e basis: Fossil onlyFossilBio CH₄Land useBio CO₂EN 15804 GWP-fossil; All of it is CO₂

Medium quality · Open licence · 1990 to now

Data quality: Medium; Rated by us, not by the source
Applies to: 2024– (2024 onwards); Reference year 2024 · a value for every year back to 1990
Origin: Printed by DEA
Licence: Open · DEA's terms of use; Free to reuse, with attribution

All values

70 values: 2 methods over 35 periods back to 1990.

Latest0.0637 2024–

Highest0.218 –1990

Change since 1990−71%

2024 onwards0.0637Default value

Year

Every value of District heat - Denmark national average, delivered basis, Denmark
AppliesYears	Default value	Climate_and_trade
2024–
2023
2022
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001
2000
1999
1998
1997
1996
1995
1994
1993
1992
1991
–1990

Default: what search and the API return when you ask for nothing specific

What this number covers

The path of one kilowatt-hour of heat, from the fuel to your meter. Not every step on it is counted; what is left out is listed below.

Heat generation
Producing the heat and steam at the plants that feed the network
Included, not split out
Network losses
Heat lost in the pipes between the plant and your meter, which still had to be produced
Included, not split out
Your meter
1 kWh used. The factor is per kWh measured here.
= 0.0637

Outside this boundary

Producing and delivering the heat plants' fuel
Building the heat plants
Building the heat network

DEA counts burning fuel at the heat plants, not producing and delivering that fuel or building the plants.

Gases

Basis: Fossil onlyFossilBio CH₄Land useBio CO₂EN 15804 GWP-fossil

Fossil CO₂0.0637

The CO₂e counts fossil carbon only; biogenic CO₂, biogenic methane and land-use carbon are left out.

From DEA's record to a comparable factor

DEA publishes this factor as one record. Here is each field as printed and what open-climate.ai made of it.

DEA fields and their standardised form
DEA field	As printed		Served as
Name	CO2-emission pr. forbrugt enhed fjernvarme [kg. pr. GJ] **	→	District heat - Denmark national average, delivered basis
Boundary	CO2-emission pr. forbrugt enhed fjernvarme	→	Well-to-use
Total	17.7	→	0.0637 kgCO₂e/kWh, well-to-use
Unit	kg. pr. GJ	→	per kWh, multiplied by 0.0036
GWP	not on the record	→	None: the value counts CO₂ alone
Publication date	11/11/2025	→	Published 11 November 2025; applies 2024 onwards

Checks this factor passed

Printed value multiplied by 0.0036 to serve it per kWh.
Unit, region, boundary and method mapped to fixed code lists.

How we standardise every library

About this factor

DEA gives no description for this factor.

Note from open-climate.ai

What it is

Fossil CO₂ from Denmark's district heating per GJ of heat consumed, from the Danish Energy Agency's annual energy statistics. The denominator is heat consumed, so network losses (20% of the heat sent into the network on average, by the publisher's glossary) are folded in. Only CO₂ from oil products, natural gas, coal and the non-biodegradable share of waste is counted; biomass counts as zero. Since 2022 the statistics split combined heat and power fuel between electricity and district heat by the 125% method, which moves emissions between the two carriers without changing their sum. Years before 2022 keep the earlier 200% method, so the series breaks between 2021 and 2022. The fuel factors behind it are the national inventory's (DCE, Aarhus University). The publisher prints kilograms per GJ; the value is converted to kilograms per kWh.

What it includes

CO₂ from burning fuel at Danish power and heating plants, divided by the energy delivered to consumers, so network losses are included. The fuel supply chain, methane and nitrous oxide are not.

Where it applies

Two values per year. The actual value, the default, is the year's emissions as they happened: use it for an inventory. The corrected value adjusts for weather (degree days against a 20-year climate normal) and for net electricity trade: net imports are counted as if Danish fuel-fired plants had produced them, and net exports are removed. The reference plants changed over time: condensing and extraction plants until 2005, an average condensing plant from 2006 to 2014, and from 2015 the five-year average of thermal plants burning internationally traded fuels (coal, oil, natural gas, wood chips and pellets). The publisher uses it for trend reporting; it is a statistical normalization, not a consumption mix.

Source and licence

Publisher: Danish Energy Agency (Energistyrelsen)
Library: DEA energistatistik-2024
Published: 11 November 2025

Open the record at DEA

DEA's terms of use Open

The values and their metadata are served in full and may be reused with credit to the publisher.

Credit it with this lineSource: Danish Energy Agency (Energistyrelsen), Energistatistik 2024

A plain reading of the licence, not legal advice. The licence text prevails.

Cite this factor

Source: Danish Energy Agency (Energistyrelsen), Energistatistik 2024. Normalised by open-climate.ai, https://open-climate.ai/factors/libraries/dea_denmark/ (CC BY 4.0). https://open-climate.ai/factors/ef-deadenmark-district_heat_denmark-dk-kwh-well_to_use-3cafce45/?v=efv1-ae192adde34be9bc5ecda2ecbbc2f37a

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Tell us which value and why. We check it against the source and answer within a week.

Value from 2024 onwards

Where 0.0637 comes from

Reporting this kilowatt-hour under the GHG Protocol

The factor, standardised

What it measures

What it covers

How far to trust it