COPENHAGEN, Denmark (CN) — As Denmark’s capital booms, it faces a common problem: the lack of housing for its new residents. Copenhagen's city government approved plans in 2018 for an unusual solution — creating an artificial island in the northeast, between Nordhavn’s harbor area and the hip industrial area Refshaleøen.
Not everyone agrees that the novel project is a good solution.
The urban peninsula called Lynetteholmen must be constructed from the ground up and is scheduled to be finished in 2070. With a capacity for 35,000 people, new ‘green’ workspaces and an oasis-like design with beaches and green patches, political promises say it will be a “paradise for inhabitants in the capital area.”
In 2021, the Danish Parliament approved the project, and soon after, construction began on the island’s flood-barrier stone perimeter. In 2023, the building company By & Havn ("City & Port") started the second phase, infilling the water with soil, primarily from construction sites.
However, the whole project should be put on hold immediately, according to the Climate Movement, a group of grassroots climate organizations. In October, they sued the Danish state and By & Havn in the Court of Appeal of Eastern Denmark on the grounds that initial environmental and climate impact reports have been lacking.
Rather than acknowledging that the project establishes an entirely new city district, the government's tactic has been to present it as simply empty land during public hearings, undermining any consequence calculation and responsibility, argues Frederik Roland Sandby, a leader at the Climate Movement.
“They basically safeguarded themselves against public objections by calling it a 'soil deposit' rather than an entire city construction with buildings, infrastructure and transportation,” Sandby said.
He argues that the process violates the Aarhus Convention, which outlines the public's rights to access information and object to environmental concerns.
According to the Climate Movement, the government later extended the size of the island from 190 to 282 hectares, which requires 80 million tons of soil. The island's construction could be harmful for the environment in several ways, Sandby said.
One big concern is that the island could block the flow of salt water through underwater crevasses to the Baltic Sea, which could threaten common eelgrass and codfish, and in turn affect marine life and carbon dioxide emissions.
Another issue is that using existing structures in the city would have less environmental impact, especially considering that the production and transportation of concrete, granite and steel would increase Denmark’s already high CO2-footprint, he said.
In their lawsuit, the Climate Movement also accuses the Danish state of not complying with the Espoo Convention, a U.N. agreement outlining the need to have input from all countries involved in an environmental issue.
“Neighboring countries such as Poland, Sweden and Germany were never consulted properly about the potential environmental effects of Lynetteholmen across country boundaries. The state merely sent an email, and even though Sweden made objections, there were never any real repercussions,” argued Sandby.
The trial began in late November, and both sides have since presented evidence in the High Court. In January, the court will give its provisional judgement as to whether the construction of Lynetteholmen should be put on hold for two years.
While By & Havn would not comment on the ongoing case, they underlined how they monitor the construction work and have agreed to establish a marine park with replanting of eelgrass and healthy habitats both under and above the surface.
”Lynetteholmen is important for Copenhagen for several reasons. It helps secure the city against future flooding. Furthermore, it solves the problem with lack of storage space for soil that has been dug up during other construction. And then it provides housing plus a big recreational coast landscape accessible to all,” the company said.
Transport Minister Thomas Danielsen said that “the Lynetteholm project is one of the most investigated and citizen-involving infrastructure projects in Denmark’s history but ... opponents must of course have the opportunity to present their case via courts.”
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