Norway’s environmental policy in line with OECD recommendations

Norway’s environmental policy is in line with OECD recommendations. This is confirmed by the OECD Environmental Outlook to 2030, presented in Oslo today. The report says a number of previous environmental challenges have been handled. Norway has been among the first countries to introduce CO2 taxes, quota trading and cooperation with trade and industry. These have proved to be efficient tools for handling environmental challenges.

The OECD Environmental Outlook identifies climate change, greenhouse gas emissions and the loss of biological diversity as some of the most serious environmental threats facing us today. The report says the problems may be solved by help of the same set of measures.

“For a number of years Norway has been combining measures like emission and CO2 quotas with agreements with trade and industry, good environmental information and awareness campaigns. The OECD says these are important parts of a good and efficient environmental policy”, says Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg. 

Norwegian climate policy elements like the catch and storage of CO2, efforts against deforestation in developing countries and the use of Kyoto mechanisms are quite in line with OECD recommendations.

“The OECD Environmental Outlook shows that Norwegian priorities and measures to handle climate threats are in line with OECD recommendations. This makes us confident that our efforts for CO2 handling are important and appropriate”, Prime Minister Stoltenberg says.

In several fields Norway’s environmental policy has been in the forefront. Due to the country’s exposure to acid rain and global emissions of environmental poison and nuclear material, Norway has been a central initiator of binding and efficient international treaties.

Between 1980 and 2006 Norway reduced its sulphur dioxide (SO2) emissions by 85 per cent. Already in the early 1990’s Norway was one of a few countries to introduce a CO2 tax which has made it possible for the country to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions more than most OECD countries, compared to gross domestic product. This has been the case despite Norway’s considerable petroleum production and the country’s economic growth.