The government has announced a new climate target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 70 per cent by 2035.
The target was presented by Climate and Environment Minister Andreas Bjelland Eriksen (Ap) at the Labour Party’s national conference on Thursday.
The cuts will mainly take place in Norway and through co-operation with the EU. However, the government has not set a separate national climate target, as recommended by the Norwegian Environment Agency.
Climate and Environment Minister Eriksen told NTB that already planned and adopted policies will result in emission cuts of 47 per cent by 2035. He expects a further 20 per cent cut through cooperation with the EU, which will bring Norway to 67 per cent.
The remaining 3-8 per cent must be achieved through new policies, which the government will present in the climate report next week and in the time after that.
– Few outside the Labour Party believe that the current climate targets will be met. Their answer is to inflate the unrealistic climate targets even more. This is totally disconnected from reality,” she says.
The Liberal Party is not happy either. Deputy leader Sveinung Rotevatn believes that the government is avoiding necessary measures now and focusing on targets far into the future. He also criticises the government for going against expert advice on a national interim target and for relying on the purchase of climate quotas.
MDG leader Arild Hermstad is also disappointed and calls the new target a recipe for a belly flop for Norwegian climate policy. He believes it is disappointing that the Labour Party is scrapping a target for cuts in Norway and continuing to focus on quota purchases.
Environmental organisations such as WWF and ZERO are also calling for clearer national targets, fearing that quota purchases could become a cushion. Stig Schjølset, head of ZERO, calls for predictability for both politicians and businesses, as it is unclear where the cuts will be made.
The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has stated that global emissions must be cut by 60 per cent by 2035 from 2019 levels.
The government’s new targets will be legislated in the Climate Act and reported to the UN. Norway’s current climate target is a 55 per cent reduction by 2030, compared with 1990, with a long-term goal of a 90-95 per cent cut by 2050.