The United States will have to obey restrictions and won’t be able to expand oil exploration in the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, against President Trump’s will.
Norway will cut its greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2030
La “carbon neutrality” verrà raggiunta in Norvegia entro il 2030, ovvero venti anni prima rispetto a quanto previsto inizialmente.
Norway is ready to zero its environmental impact in terms of greenhouse gas emissions. The parliament has approved a plan to reach the “carbon neutrality” goal 20 years earlier than the deadline set for 2050. Namely, the northern European country aims to cut its emissions to zero by 2030.
A consequence of the Paris Agreement
Despite the opposition of the right wing – which is still in the minority in the Parliamentary Assembly –, Norwegian MPs adopted the environmental plan in a 54-47 vote. This has been defined as a direct consequence of the Paris Agreement reached during the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP21) in December.
However, note that Norway is still one of the world’s major oil exporters and its energy production depends almost entirely on hydroelectric energy. This means it hasn’t got a wide margin to manoeuvre to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and, as a result, the government will have to purchase a huge amount of carbon credits on the ETS market.
The plan enrages the right wing
The Norwegian executive branch hasn’t favourably greeted the decision: “The initiative is premature and costly. The price could be as much as 20 billion kroner (3.2 billion euros) per year in 2030,” said Climate and Environment Minister Vidar Helgesen. The opposition however defended the move: “Would it be less costly and would the consequences for society be diminished if we postpone this measure?” asked a leader of the Labour Party.
According to it, a change was needed given that Norway’s greenhouse gas emissions rose by 1.5 per cent in 2015 compared to the previous year, reaching 53.9 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent mainly because of the exploitation of a newly created oilfield.
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