Anders Eldrup

Anders Eldrup    (businessman, deep politician)
Born	October 30, 1948
Nationality	Danish
Alma mater	Aarhus University
Spouse	Merete Eldrup
Member of	Bilderberg/Steering committee
Danish member of the Bilderberg Steering Committee. With his wife, he is one half of Denmark's most powerful couple. Almost unknown to the public.  DONG/CEO In office 2001 - 2012 Danish Oil and Natural Gas. Merged to DONG Energy in 2006; Changed name to Ørsted in 2017.  Permanent Secretary  In office 1991 - 2001 Employer Danish Ministry of Finance

Anders Eldrup is a Danish business leader who for years has been a central figure in Danish politics and business, described as "a modest man with enormous power". With his wife, he is one half of Denmark's most powerful couple, with an enormous individual and joint network.

He is a former member of the Bilderberg Steering Committee. He has been a promoter of the Bilderberg agenda of reduced carbon emissions, more expensive energy, and what they call "Green Growth".

He was previously Permanent Secretary at the Danish Ministry of Finance, and since 2001 as CEO, first at the Danish oil and gas company DONG (an abbreviation for Danish Oil and Natural Gas).

Background

Anders Eldrup was born in Ebeltoft in Denmark. His father was an Estate Manager and the mother was a School Teacher. He graduated from Grenaa High-School in 1967 and then, as the first in his family to take further education, started to study Political Science at Aarhus University. In 1972 he graduated as MA in political science.

In 1994 he married Merete Eldrup, who has been the CEO of Danish Broadcasting Network TV2. They met while she was employed at the Ministry of Finance from 1988-92. They live in Copenhagen, and have two children together as well as two children each from previous marriages.

Anders Eldrup is not known as an extrovert. Only the absolute closest people know the private individual Eldrup, because he has never wanted to be a famous or at all interested in being exposed. That Eldrup is not a person known by everybody, was clear when he appeared in commercials for DONG Energy together with the national football team's far more known faces. Although the energy giant is one of the team's main sponsors, not many people knew Eldrup when he appeared in the spots.

Professional biography

Anders Eldrup began his professional career at the same time as Denmark was hit by the 1973 oil crisis. The crisis had a negative effect on the basis of the Danish economy. Before the oil crisis, Denmark received more than 90 percent of its energy from oil, and over 90 percent of the oil was imported from the Middle East. The oil crisis made oil prices quadruple and it affected the balance of payments whose deficit doubled in two years. Eldrup has described how the first oil crisis showed to him the danger of placing all of ones eggs in one basket.

The poor economy of the 1970s continued into the 1980s. Eldrup has mentioned how humiliating it was to be part of the Danish delegation that came to New York City in the early '80s to lend money to the Danish State. According to Eldrup himself it was his aim to contribute to re-establishing Denmark's economy. In the 1980s he was mainly occupied with reforms of state budget management and with a new model for budgetary cooperation between Danish state and the municipalities.

In 1991 Anders Eldrup was appointed Permanent Secretary of State at the Ministry of Finance. As Secretary of State, he sought to restructure the Ministry of Finance and to give it a more central position in the social debate. Throughout the 90s, the Ministry of Finance became a key player in the central administration and prepared a wide range of the major political reforms of the 90s.

In 2001, Anders Eldrup left the Ministry of Finance and took up his position at DONG. This was a goodbye to nearly 30 years in the ministry under different Danish Ministers of Finance from the political left and right such as Anders Andersen, Knud Heinesen, Svend Jakobsen, Henning Christophersen, Palle Simonsen, Henning Dyremose and Mogens Lykketoft. During the latter two, Eldrup acted as Permanent Secretary of State.

Private sector

Anders Eldrup was Vice President of DONG's board while he was Secretary of State. Over the next years he headed the transformation from DONG to DONG Energy – a merger between DONG and five other Danish energy companies, Elsam, Energi E2, Nesa, Københavns Energi (only the power division) and Frederiksberg Forsyning (only the power division). The merger meant that DONG went from being a Danish company, importing and trading natural gas, to be a North European energy company producing and trading electricity, heat, oil and natural gas and distributing electricity and natural gas.

In the autumn of 2008, Anders Eldrup stated that DONG Energy is to develop from being a company, where most of the electricity and power is produced from fossil fuels to a company where renewable energy dominates. Eldrup calls this the 85/15 vision because today, about 85 percent of DONG Energy's heat and power production comes from fossil fuels whereas 15 percent comes from renewable energy. Eldrup has declared that by 2040 DONG Energy will have changed the fraction, so that 85 percent come from renewable energy and by 2020, half of DONG Energy’s heat and power production will come from renewable energy.

Eldrup has repeatedly urged politicians participating in international climate negotiations to adopt ambitious and long-term CO₂ emissions reduction targets in order to secure a high price on carbon, which would make it more expensive to pollute. Eldrup emphasizes that this will speed up the global development of renewable energy even more. At the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference Eldrup was chosen to speak to the delegates at the COP15 as the representative of the international business community. His key message was that an ambitious, predictable and transparent climate agreement would constitute a framework that could facilitate the business community's necessary investments in low carbon technologies.

Memberships

In 2010 Anders Eldrup co-founded Green Growth Leaders (GGL), an initiative which works to accelerate green growth with the vision of building prosperous, green economies and communities. Today Eldrup is a member of the council. Eldrup is also a member of VL-group 1 of the Danish Top Executive Network.

2007-2009 Eldrup, was a member of Copenhagen Climate Council, a group of international business leaders, scientists and policy experts. Copenhagen Climate Council worked for the adoption of an ambitious climate agreement at the 2009 UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen.

From 2007 - 2009 Anders Eldrup was also a member of the Danish Government's Business Climate Panel, which, based on analyses, presentations and recommendations, advised the government, nationally and internationally about activities and issues related to environmental technology and the climate change conference. Eldrup has also been involved in the Bilderberg Group annual conference from 2001 to 2010. He is a former member of the group's Steering Committee.

Positions of trust

Anders Eldrup is the chairman of the Copenhagen Cleantech Cluster and chairman of Offshoreenergy.dk (formerly known as Offshore Center Danmark). Moreover, he is member of a number of boards including the Rockwool Foundation, Terma A/S, Lindoe Offshore Renewables Center, Experimentarium and Technical University of Denmark.

 

Events Participated in

Event	Start	End	Location(s)	Description
Bilderberg/2001	24 May 2001	27 May 2001	Sweden Stenungsund	The 49th Bilderberg, in Sweden. Reported on the WWW.
Bilderberg/2002	30 May 2002	2 June 2002	US Virginia Chantilly Westfields Marriott	The 50th Bilderberg, held at Chantilly, Virginia.
Bilderberg/2003	15 May 2003	18 May 2003	France Versailles	The 51st Bilderberg, in Versailles, France
Bilderberg/2004	3 June 2004	6 June 2004	Italy Stresa	The 52nd such meeting. 126 recorded guests
Bilderberg/2005	5 May 2005	8 May 2005	Germany Rottach-Egern	The 53rd Bilderberg, 132 guests
Bilderberg/2006	8 June 2006	11 June 2006	Canada Ottawa	54th Bilderberg, held in Canada. 133 guests
Bilderberg/2007	31 May 2007	3 June 2007	Turkey Istanbul	The 55th Bilderberg meeting, held in Turkey
Bilderberg/2008	5 June 2008	8 June 2008	US Virginia Chantilly	The 56th Bilderberg, Chantilly, Virginia, 139 guests
Bilderberg/2009	14 May 2009	17 May 2009	Greece Vouliagmeni	The 57th Bilderberg
Bilderberg/2010	3 June 2010	6 June 2010	Spain Hotel Dolce Sitges Barcelona	The 122 guests met in the Hotel Dolce Sitges, Barcelona, Spain.
Bilderberg/2011	9 June 2011	12 June 2011	Switzerland Hotel Suvretta St. Moritz	59th meeting, in Switzerland, 129 guests

Many thanks to our Patrons who cover ~2/3 of our hosting bill. Please join them if you can.