Theresa Birgitta Brønnum Scavenius (born 26 July 1984) is a Danish politician who currently serves as an independent member of the

Folketing The Folketing ( , ), also known as the Parliament of Denmark or the Danish Parliament in English, is the unicameral national legislature (parliament) of the Kingdom of Denmark — Denmark proper together with the Faroe Islands and Greenland. E ...

. Previously a member of the green political party The Alternative, she was first elected at the

2022 Danish general election General elections were held in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark on 1 November 2022, except in the Faroe Islands, where they were held on 31 October as 1 November was a national day of mourning for victims at sea. Of the 179 members of the Fo ...

as a member of the party, having previously run unsuccessfully for them in the 2019 election. She was a candidate to succeed

Uffe Elbæk Uffe Elbæk (born 15 June 1954) is a Danish politician, social worker, author, journalist, and entrepreneur. In 2013, he founded the green political party The Alternative, which he led until February 2020. He is an independent member of the Fol ...

as leader of the party, after he resigned in February 2020, but lost to

Josephine Fock Josephine Fock (born 5 September 1965) is a Danish politician, who was a member of the Folketing for The Alternative from 2015 to 2018. She was the leader of the party from 1 February to 14 November 2020 after Uffe Elbæk resigned. Political ca ...

. In September 2023, after being stripped of her committee assignments and excluded from The Alternative's parliamentary group, Scavenius resigned as a member of the party. She continues to sit in the Folketing as an independent politician. She is an associate professor at Aalborg University Copenhagen with climate politics as her research area.

Background

Theresa Scavenius is the great grandchild of Fergus Roger Scavenius, who was a younger brother of

Erik Scavenius Erik Julius Christian Scavenius (; 13 July 1877 – 29 November 1962) was the Danish foreign minister from 1909 to 1910, 1913 to 1920 and 1940 to 1943, and prime minister from 1942 to 1943, during the occupation of Denmark until the Danish elect ...

, former prime minister of Denmark. Scavenius was a student at Christianshavn Gymnasium. In 2005 she started to study German at the

University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen (, KU) is a public university, public research university in Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in Scandinavia, after Uppsala University. ...

, and wrote her bachelor's thesis about

Thomas Mann Paul Thomas Mann ( , ; ; 6 June 1875 – 12 August 1955) was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novell ...

in 2007. She studied

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

, also at the University of Copenhagen, and graduated in 2011. In 2014, she completed a Ph.D, with her dissertation named ''Moral Responsibility for Climate Change: A Fact-Sensitive Political Theory''.

Academic career

Theresa Scavenius has been an associate professor at

Aalborg University Aalborg University (AAU) is an international public university with campuses in Aalborg, Esbjerg, and Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1974, the university awards bachelor's degrees, master's degrees, and PhD degrees in a wide variety of subje ...

since 2017, and have climate politics as her research area. She is working in the Department of Planning at the university's Copenhagen campus. In December 2017, she was named one of 10 "junior research talents" and awarded a three-year research grant of 3 million DKK in total. Her research project is titled ''Institutional mediation, emergent technologies and green transition paths''. In 2017 she co-edited the book ''Compromise and Disagreement in Contemporary Political Theory'' alongside Christian Rostbøll, and in 2018 the book ''Institutional Capacity for Climate Response: A New Approach to Climate politics'' alongside

Steve Rayner Steve Rayner (22 May 1953 – 17 January 2020) was James Martin Professor of Science and Civilization at Oxford University and Director of the Institute for Science, Innovation and Society, a member of the Oxford Martin School. He described hims ...

. In 2019 she authored the book ''Political Responsibility for Climate Change: Ethical Institutions and Fact-Sensitive Theory''. Scavenius was one of 301 Danish researchers who in May 2018 published an open letter, calling politicians to prioritise a more ambitious climate policy above

economic growth In economics, economic growth is an increase in the quantity and quality of the economic goods and Service (economics), services that a society Production (economics), produces. It can be measured as the increase in the inflation-adjusted Outp ...

. She has appeared in Danish media as a climate expert and has been active in the public debate on climate change.

Political career

Theresa Scavenius was a member of the

Danish Social Liberal Party The Danish Social Liberal Party (, RV, ) is a Social liberalism, social-liberal List of political parties in Denmark, political party in Denmark. The party was founded as a split from the Venstre (Denmark), Venstre Reform Party in 1905. Histori ...

from 2016 to 2017. In September 2017, she was a candidate to become vice chairman of the party, but lost to Bitten Schjødts Kjær. She subsequently left the party. Scavenius joined The Alternative in December 2017, and was a candidate in the 2019 general election, running in the

North Zealand North Zealand, also North Sealand (), refers to the northeastern part of the Danish island of Zealand. The Danish tourist authorities have recently introduced the term Danish Riviera to cover the area in view of its increasing importance for to ...

constituency. She said she decided to run because she was "deeply frustrated" by Danish climate politics, which she perceived to be unambitious. She received donations of 300.000 DKK for her campaign. The donations were controversial because The Alternative has a political goal to remove money from politics. Scavenius did not get elected, as The Alternative did not win any seats in the constituency. She received 1,267 votes; the most among the party's candidates in the constituency. Incumbent member of the

, Christian Poll, followed with 1,162 votes. In December 2019, she announced that she was a candidate to become political leader of The Alternative, after founder

announced that he would resign in February 2020. Before her announcement, she had been seen as a likely candidate by the media. After two elimination rounds, she lost to

who got 936 votes against Scavenius's 668 votes. The election of Fock caused a leadership crisis in which four of the party' five members of the Folketing, including Elbæk, left The Alternative. Scavenius subsequently left the party, referencing its "de facto dissolution". In March 2021, Scavenius announced she was starting a new climate-based political party entitled "Momentum", but after receiving just under 3,000 votes in the Copenhagen municipal elections, the party folded. Scavenius later returned to The Alternative and was elected to the Folketing in the

. In September 2023, Scavenius was stripped of her committee assignments and excluded from The Alternative's parliamentary group. Following this, she resigned as a member of the party.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scavenius, Theresa University of Copenhagen alumni Academic staff of Aalborg University Living people 1984 births Members of the Folketing 2022–2026