Norwegian Carbon Credit Procurement Program
Article | Last updated: 04/10/2019 | Ministry of Climate and Environment
Norway is committed to an ambitious climate policy and has a target of 30 % GHG emissions reduction by 2020 relative to 1990 levels. About 50 per cent of Norwegian emissions is covered by the EU Emission Trading System (EU-ETS). More than 80 per cent of domestic emissions is subject to mandatory emissions trading, a CO2 tax, or both.
The Norwegian Carbon Credit Procurement Program was set up in 2007 under the Ministry of Finance to ensure that Norway would be able to meet its target in the first Kyoto period (2008-2012). The responsibility for the program was transferred to the Ministry of Climate and Environment on 1 January 2014. Procurement of carbon credits is a supplement to national measures to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions and has made it possible for Norway to take on a more ambitious emission reduction target than if all the reductions were to be taken domestically.
In the first Kyoto Period (2008-2012), Norway signed agreements with total deliveries of about 23 million CERs. About 20 million CERs was needed to meet the target of overachieving Norway's unilateral pledge by 10 per cent. In the second Kyoto period (2013-2020), Norway needs carbon credits in order to meet the 30% emission reduction target by 2020. The exact procurement need is yet to be determined, inter alia pending Norway's contribution of AAUs to cover emissions in the EU ETS.
The Ministry has a mandate to procure carbon credits from new, not yet commissioned, projects and from vulnerable projects. Vulnerable projects are registered and commissioned projects that are either stranded or on the verge of shutting down due to the lack of revenues from CER sales. Contracts with an estimated delivery of some 47 million CERs have been contracted under the bilateral procurement program and through carbon funds under NEFCO and the World Bank.
The Ministry also participate in the Transformative Carbon Asset Facility (TCAF), an initiative under the World Bank. TCAF was launched in 2015 with an aim to assist developing countries in increasing their mitigation ambition by implementing market-based carbon pricing and sectoral mitigation measures. TCAF will inform the process under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement to develop standards and agreements for future carbon crediting instruments and transfer of mitigation outcomes.
We are currently not accepting new proposals under the Kyoto (2013-2020) procurement program.
Documents
Portfolio (pdf)
Template NMoCE ERPA 2016-2020 (pdf)
Term Sheet Norwegian Ministry of Climate and Environment (pdf)
Contact
Ministry of Climate and Environment
Climate Change Department
P.O.Box 8013 Dep
NO-0030 Oslo, Norway
Malin Meyer
Tel: +47 480 45 797
Email: malin.meyer@kld.dep.no
Sigurd Klakeg
Tel: +47 90 19 68 31
Email: Sigurd.klakeg@kld.dep.no