If so, Norway is likely to follow, and at some point include this target in its revised Nationally Determined Contribution. To understand the confusion surrounding Norway’s climate neutrality target, it is important to note that it was adopted well before the idea of reaching “net zero” greenhouse gas emissions globally had become part of discussions about climate policy. Immediately after, the Prime Minister watered down this ambition, and warned against being “bombastic” with regard the proportion of cuts to be made domestically vs. abroad. This reluctance to embrace the target is still visible today. Parliament approves radical proposal of accelerated emissions cuts and carbon offsetting to achieve climate goal 20 years earlier than planned, Wed 15 Jun 2016 10.16 BST In order to send e-mail to the right recipient we must save your name and e-mail address. “This is a totally separate issue, as the climate neutrality goalposts are all about offsets by 2030,” Helgesen said. On Tuesday night MPs voted for an accelerated programme of CO2 cuts and carbon trading to offset emissions from sectors such as Norway’s oil and gas industries, which are unlikely to be phased out in the near future. At the climate summit in Katowice (COP24) in 2018, Parties failed to reach conclusions on the terms and conditions for the flexible mechanisms in the Paris Agreement. Although Norway is outside the EU, it still participates in the EU’s emissions trading system. But only as long Norway has access to flexible mechanisms. Data sources: EEA, the Norwegian Government. Parliament nevertheless opted to expedite the target, arguing that Norway had to make good on its promise as the conditions set in 2008 were met with the ratification of the Paris Agreement. Currently, Norway is the largest donor to an initiative exploring flexible mechanisms under the Paris Agreement article 6, the Transformative Carbon Asset Facility, and is also actively involved in the Carbon Partnership Facility program in the World Bank. The company MailChimp delivers the solution for these newsletters and acts as a data processor for Nordic Energy Research in accordance with the agreement we have made with them. Nordic Energy Research (NER) collects and processes personal information via its web page nordicenergy.org and other domains that Nordic Energy Research has registered for its various programs and activities. The high profile climate motion followed a zero deforestation parliamentary vote earlier this month, which made Norway the first nation to ban public procurements that contribute to rainforest destruction. It reinstates a commitment first agreed in 2008 but scrapped after Copenhagen talks failed to produce an … Subscribe to make sure you don't miss anything! Currently there is a push in EU policy circles for setting a long term-term target for the EU to become climate-neutral or carbon neutral by 2050. Norway played a very active role in establishing and using the flexible mechanisms under the Kyoto protocol (most notably the Clean Development Mechanism) and will likely play an active role in putting the flexible mechanisms under the Paris Agreement into play. Last modified on Wed 23 Sep 2020 15.43 BST. Carbon capture is just one facet of Norway’s goal of becoming “climate neutral” by 2030. On Tuesday night … When adopted in 2008, the target was therefore not modelled on the goal of the Paris Agreement to achieve a “balance” between emissions and removals of greenhouse gasses, or the scientific understanding that halting emissions is necessary to stabilize temperature. ‘2030’ is closer to us now than the year 2000.”. The country’s electricity and heating is…. Norway’s parliament has approved a radical goal of achieving climate neutrality by 2030, two decades earlier than planned. These mechanisms are on the agenda at the climate summit to be held in Chile (COP25) in December 2019, but there are no guarantees that the discussions will be concluded at the summit (it took seven years to negotiate the Kyoto mechanisms). © 2020 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. In the current government declaration from January 17 2019, the Government raises this ambition to 90-95 per cent, i.e. Despite not being a member of the EU, Norway has since 2008 been part of the European Union – Emissions Trading System (EU ETS), and from 2019, Norway is part of the EUs Effort Sharing Regulation (ESR) and Land Use Land-Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) regulation (at the least until 2030). In a parliamentary debate on Tuesday morning, opposition lawmakers had a majority in favour of the environment committee proposal. The lack of clear answers about future carbon trading, including costs, was the main reason why the government tried to dissuade Parliament from expediting the climate neutrality target when it ratified the Paris Agreement. “Norway cannot claim to be a contributor to the [non-binding] 1.5C target [agreed at Paris], if we continue to push for more oil and gas activity.”. Because of this political process, Norway is often seen as a pioneer in the “net zero” debate, by adopting a deadline for reaching zero emissions earlier than most countries. Norway has a procurement process that screens CDM credits for quality. Eight years later, on June 14 2016, the same day Norway ratified the Paris Agreement, the Parliament followed through on this, stating that the condition for expediting the neutrality target to 2030 was met. It will therefore be very interesting to see and compare the wording of Norway’s and the EU’s new Nationally Determined Contributions with regard to net-zero, climate neutrality and carbon neutrality (if mentioned at all), given the uncertainty with regard to the design and implementation of flexible mechanisms, and the importance of these Nationally Determined Contributions for reaching the targets and ambitions set out in the Paris Agreement. It is unclear how the Norwegian target should be interpreted, and how it relates to other aspects of Norway’s climate policy. Well, surprisingly, there is no concrete plan for how Norway can reach the climate neutrality target by 2030, even with carbon trading. By 2030, emissions shall have been slashed by 40 percent compared to 1990 in cooperation with the EU, which also will imply use of the EU flexibility mechanisms, such as the EU ETS. We will not share your information with third parties without your express permission, and we delete your information when you end your subscription. Instead, the Government intends to return to Parliament with a review of the follow-up of the climate neutrality decision at a “suitable” point in time. Norwegian climate policy is based on cost efficiency, meaning a significant portion of the cuts will likely be achieved through offsetting with emissions reductions abroad. Nordic Energy Research regularly sends out a newsletter with the latest updates on our activities. Norway’s target is to be carbon-neutral in 2030, if emissions cuts are made by other countries, and by 2050 regardless of international emission cuts. Norway’s target is to be carbon-neutral in 2030, if emissions cuts are made by other countries, and by 2050 regardless of international emission cuts. ‘2050’ is science fiction. But when the Paris Agreement materialized, it did not provide a clear-cut solution to Norway’s offsetting needs: Article 6 of the Paris Agreement covers carbon trading but does not (yet) provide the strict and credible framework of UN-sanctioned credits that Norway has used under the Kyoto Protocol. By then, hopefully carbon joins landfills as a relic of Norway’s … Not least, it should be noted that this declaration utilizes the term carbon neutrality in contrast to climate neutrality, whereby the latter includes all GHGs and is therefore perceived as harder to achieve. “It is not about national emissions reductions beyond what we will contribute, through the EU process.”. The processing of personal information in connection with the services we offer, such as subscribing to newsletters and events, is done with the consent of the user. Rasmus Hansson, the leader of the Norwegian Green party in parliament, said: “This is a direct response to the commitments Norway took on by ratifying the Paris agreement and means that we will have to step up our climate action dramatically. Already in 2008, the Norwegian Parliament decided that Norway should become “carbon neutral” by 2050, and that this goal could even be expedited to 2030 if an ambitious global climate agreement was in place. Today, Norwegian emissions are 3.4 per cent higher than in 1990. You must unsubscribe, via the link in the newsletter or on the mailchimp website, if you no longer want to receive newsletters. And Norway’s target of reaching climate neutrality by 2030 will practically be impossible without massive offsetting. The wording of the parliamentary motion was left deliberately vague, calling for a smorgasbord of measures to achieve carbon neutrality, with no percentages for how much each should contribute. If so, Norway is likely to follow, and at some point include this target in its revised Nationally Determined Contribution. The sitting Minister of Climate and Environment, Ola Elvestuen, in June 2019 publicly stated that the 90-95 per cent cut was to happen at home.