– I think we can be really proud of that! That’s what Einar Wilhelmsen, councilor of finance and responsible for Oslo’s climate budget (MDG), says. Oslo is the only large city in Norway that had a decrease in emissions in 2021. In the capital, emissions decreased by 4.6 per cent. This is shown by recent figures from the Norwegian Environment Agency. – We are cutting so much in a year where national emissions hardly fall at all. This is about systematic climate work over time, and that we dare to introduce the measures needed to reduce emissions. The Finance Council in Oslo is satisfied that they have reduced greenhouse gas emissions in the capital. Photo: Stian Lysberg Solum / NTB Wilhelmsen talks about how the municipality has chosen to make demands on the construction industry, which accounts for a large proportion of the city’s emissions. He refers to the requirement for electric machines or the use of biofuel. – When Oslo municipality buys goods and services, we demand that they are transported with zero emissions. High toll rates and the large investment in public transport have also caused people to ditch the fossil-fuel car, and that has a lot to say. Photo: Erik Johansen The biggest reductions in accidents in Oslo were within energy supply, road traffic and diesel-powered motor equipment such as construction machinery and tractors. That’s what Julien Jabot, who is a senior advisor in the climate department in the Norwegian Environment Agency, tells us. Could this be due to the pandemic? Jabot explains that, strictly speaking, they cannot answer this because the data does not say anything about why the activity level increases or decreases. At the same time, he points out that emissions have decreased in some of the sectors that have been affected by the pandemic, but that these sectors make up only a small part of the total. – We therefore see no clear connection between the pandemic and the emission trend in Oslo. Over the past ten years, Oslo has reduced its emissions by 27 per cent. – They have had a big drop in road traffic and heating. Actually in all sectors where there are emissions, apart from shipping. Increased emissions in the big cities With the exception of Oslo, the other big cities in Norway have increased emissions in 2021. Stavanger: 5.4 per cent increase Bergen: 1.1 per cent increase Trondheim: 3.2 per cent increase Kristiansand: 1.9 per cent increase Tromsø: 4 .9 per cent increase The total emissions from road traffic have decreased in most places. Emissions from passenger cars have been reduced, but at the same time emissions from vans and heavy vehicles are increasing. In some cities, however, there have been greater emissions from shipping and aviation. The Norwegian Environment Agency assumes this is due to increased activity after the pandemic year 2020. Emissions from energy supply have also increased in some places. – We see that the transition must go faster, and the municipalities have a responsibility for this together with all other social actors. I hope that we will see even more good solutions from a local level in the coming years, says Ellen Hambro, director of the Norwegian Environment Agency, in a press release. Your municipality Emissions from all municipalities combined have decreased by 0.36 per cent from 2020 to 2021. Would you like to check out your own municipality. Try yourself here. Although the majority of the municipalities did not reduce climate emissions in 2021, figures from the last ten years show that 55 per cent of the municipalities have had more than a 5 per cent reduction in emissions since 2011. – We see that there have been large reductions in road traffic for almost all the municipalities, the same with heating, says Julien Jabot in the Norwegian Environment Agency. Emissions from shipping, agriculture and diesel-powered motor vehicles, on the other hand, have increased in most municipalities over the past ten years. Transport is the most difficult Kjetil Bjørklund is head of climate work in the municipal organization KS. He specifies that the figures show the geographical emissions where the municipalities are located. So everything is not synonymous with the municipalities’ own emissions. – If the E6 goes through the municipality, then what the municipality can do with it is limited. But we have a difficult job ahead of us, and we must increase the pace if we are to succeed in reaching the climate targets. According to KS, many municipalities are now taking after the capital. A couple of hundred municipalities, well over half, have drawn up climate budgets based on the model from Oslo. It is the ban on oil burning in particular that has reduced municipal emissions. Emissions from waste and sewage are also falling. The most difficult thing is to reduce the emissions from transport and shipping, and to reduce the total volume of transport. – It is possible, but requires systematic work and coordinated efforts between municipalities, the state, companies and local communities.
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Less greenhouse gas emissions in Oslo in 2021 – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
