Minister of climate and environment Espen Barth Eide

Historical archive

Published under: Solberg's Government

Publisher: Ministry of Climate and Environment

Minister of climate and environment Espen Barth Eide (Labour Party)

The minister of Climate and Environment has the responsibility for The Government's policies on the climate and the environment.

Appointed: 14/10/2021
Left: 16/10/2023
Born: 1964

Espen Barth Eide is Norway’s Minister of Climate and Environment, a position he has held since the Støre government was formed on 14 October 2021.

From 2017-2021, he was a Member of Parliament and the Norwegian Labour Party’s Climate and Energy spokesperson. He was reelected to the Parliament for the 2021-2025 legislative term, representing Oslo.

In the two Stoltenberg Governments, Mr. Eide occupied many prominent positions: Foreign Minister from 2012 to 2013, Minister of Defense from 2011 to 2012, State Secretary for Foreign Affairs from 2010 to 2011, State Secretary for Defense from 2005 to 2010 and State Secretary for Foreign Affairs from 2000-2001.

Mr. Eide was Managing Director and Member of the Managing Board of the World Economic Forum in Geneva from 2014 to 2016.

Furthermore, he served as UN Under-Secretary General and the Secretary General’s Special Adviser on Cyprus (2014-2017), chairing the negotiations aiming at reunification of the divided island.

For over a decade (2001-2013), he was a Vice President of the Party of European Socialists (the association of European Social Democratic parties).

In his academic career, Mr. Eide, a political scientist, worked as a senior fellow at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI) from 1993 to 2000 and again from 2002 to 2005, specialising on international security, European integration, defense and international relations. During his tenure at NUPI, he was deeply involved in several UN, EU and NATO-related processes.

Mr. Eide was acting Secretary-General of the Norwegian European Movement in 1991-1993.

Until October 2021, Mr. Eide was the Chair of the Board of the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue in Geneva, a peace mediation organization, Board member of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Board member of the Norwegian Atlantic Committee, senior adviser to the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington (CSIS) and a member of the European Leadership Network in London.