The international community agree that the increase in global temperature needs to be contained at below 2 degrees. The reports from the IPCC in 2021 and 2022 underscores the importance of this goal. However, if Norway’s and the world’s politicians continue to practise “business-as-usual”, the temperature increase may well be 3 to 4 degrees by the end of the century.
The Grandparents Climate Campaign finds the widening gap between the urgently needed actions and the measures that are implemented deeply disturbing. We urges political authorities to:
- adopt taxation policies that reward reduced energy consumption, making fossil fuels
- ban fossil fuel advertising and sponsorships by fossil fuel companies
- make large-scale investments in low-energy transport, while aviation in particular should be restricted
- protect vulnerable ocean areas from oil and gas exploitation, such as the high Arctic
- stopp exploitation of unconventional fossil resources such as shale oil and tar sands by Norwegian companies
- strengthen the Norwegian Ministry of Environment, which has in recent years been stripped of central housekeeping tasks
Securing a healthy planet for coming generations demands a sharp reduction in our dependency on fossil fuels. Therefore, redirecting the Norwegian “Oil Fund” – the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund – to invest in green technologies and industries both at home and abroad, would be an important step forward.
Furthermore, in accordance with the Paris Agreement Article 12, Norway must take measures to enhance climate change education, training, public awareness, public participation and access to information. It is the Government’s responsibily to make it easier for every enlightened citizen to act in accordance with best practice. Unless far more forceful measures are taken, Norway’s CO2 emissions will continue being far too high.
Photo: Kristian Skjellum Aas / Friends of the Earth, Norway