Climate Action 2009-2010

POLICY
Ensuring reliable supplies of affordable and climate friendly energy must be part of any solution.
© Marianne Gjorv
CLIMATE NEUTRALITY 28
possible. All such technologies will become increasingly
attractive as the price of emissions starts to rise.
What we do in the energy sector will be decisive with
respect to climate change. The use of fossil fuels for
energy production dominates the world’s emissions,
and access to energy is key to increasing the welfare
and standard of living for millions of poor people across
the globe. Ensuring reliable supplies of affordable and
climate friendly energy must be part of the solution.
Many climate friendly technologies already exist, but
are too expensive for ordinary people or for investment
decisions in industry. Meanwhile, prices will not fall
before demand rises. Market interventions are therefore
needed to make climate friendly technology cheaper
and emission intensive technology and activities more
expensive. Establishing a global emissions trading
system, where a global carbon price will emerge should
be a clear long-term goal.
Norway has a fairly long history of pricing carbon. It
introduced a CO 2
tax in the petroleum sector as early
as 1991. The emissions trading scheme and the CO 2
tax regime cover above 70 per cent of our emissions.
Without the CO 2
tax and other political efforts, our
emissions would have been about 20 per cent higher
than they are today.
Many developing countries lack the resources or
incentives for introducing climate friendly technologies.
Developed countries must contribute in an efficient
manner, to enable developing countries to follow a more
environmentally friendly path of growth than the one we
have followed since the industrial revolution.
By paying for emission reductions in developing
countries, developed countries not only improve the
balance of their own climate accounts, they also facilitate
transfers of technology and capital. Such systems
also increase awareness and understanding of clean
technologies, emissions trading and the importance of
mitigating climate change in countries that do not have
quantitative emission reduction targets.
Norway aims to become carbon neutral by 2030. By
this time, and towards 2050, we hope that a lot more
countries have become or are striving to become,
carbon neutral. In the longer run, we all need to make
a transition to a low emission world. In reality, there
is a global cap on greenhouse gas emissions from all.
Broad participation in a global carbon market will give
a basis for faster development and diffusion of the best
technologies and solutions to become carbon neutral.
CARBON CAPTURE AND STORAGE
One of the reasons behind the Government’s decision
to balance all domestic emissions by 2030 with global
reductions is the fact that we are currently one of the
world’s largest exporters of these fossil fuels, which
produce greenhouse gas emissions wherever they are
used. Export of oil and gas is the backbone of Norway’s
economy. As a result of the early implementation of a
carbon tax, the Norwegian oil and gas production is one
of the world’s most efficient.
It is crucial that the future climate regime creates a
framework that welcomes, promotes and provides
incentives for research, innovation and implementation
of all technologies that contribute to reducing emissions.
This requires increased efforts on renewable energy and
energy efficiency.
However, increased efficiency is not enough to become
carbon neutral. In the short and medium term, fossil
fuels will still be used to a large extent. We must
therefore meet the challenge of securing a sustainable
future energy supply by reducing emissions from the
continued production and use of fossil fuels.
Carbon capture and storage is one of the most promising
technologies to achieve this.
This technology will complement other climate change
mitigation actions by reducing emissions from use of
fossil fuels, including coal, during the transition to a
low-carbon economy. I see carbon capture and storage
as an integrated part of a strategy for carbon neutrality.
Since 1996, Norway has gained extensive experience in
storing CO 2
in geological structures. Monitoring data
show the precise subsurface location of the CO 2
plume
and confirms that the CO 2
is confined securely within the
storage reservoir.
The Norwegian Government cooperates with industry
on realising carbon capture and storage at two gas fired
power plants and will contribute financially to these
projects. In addition, the European CO 2
Technology
Centre Mongstad will test, verify and demonstrate
different concepts and technologies capable of reducing
costs and risks related to carbon capture and storage.
There are still challenges in making these technologies
commercially viable on a global scale. At the same time,
there are emissions that can be easily captured and
stored if financial and other conditions are in place. We
need to develop mechanisms to meet these challenges.
To mobilise the financial resources needed to enable and
disseminate such climate friendly technologies, we must
create a framework that creates appropriate incentives for
investments in both developed and developing countries.
REDUCED EMISSIONS FROM
DEFORESTATION
Globally, halting emissions from deforestation and
forest degradation is particularly important because
this can have a significant effect on global emissions
within a short period of time. The mighty rain forests in
developing countries are important sinks and storage
places for carbon, and thus tropical forests can be the
key to restrict global warming.
Today, emissions from deforestation and forest
degradation in developing countries amount to about
17 per cent of the global greenhouse gas emissions.
Efforts to reduce these emissions must be additional
to and not replace efforts by developed countries to
reduce their emissions.
In order to promote early action on reduced
emissions from deforestation, Norway has launched a
comprehensive Forest and Climate Initiative. The annual
budget is about three billion NOK (500 million USD).
Nevertheless, forests are more than carbon. Forests are
the home of unique and often rare animals, trees and
flowers, and the home of millions of people using the
resources to earn a living.
A global mechanism for reduced deforestation therefore
should also promote sustainable forest management,
contribute to the protection of biodiversity and secure the
rights, involvement and livelihood of local communities
and indigenous peoples.
The main focus must be on deforestation and forest
degradation due to the high rate of emissions from
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