– It is embarrassing if this becomes a fait accompli, says head of department Christian Eriksen in Bellona. He is referring to the climate agreement Norway has with the EU, which puts pressure on Norway until next year. The agreement gives Norway a certain emissions budget each year until 2030 in the so-called non-quota sector (transport, agriculture, construction and small industrial enterprises). Until next year, the maximum limit is 23.2 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalents. The challenge is the following: With today’s policy, we are steering towards 23.9 million tonnes, i.e. 700,000 tonnes too much. And the climate measures in next year’s budget are not enough. – The effect-calculated climate measures in the government’s proposal for the state budget for 2023 are intended to reduce the non-quota-obligatory emissions by up to 0.5 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalents in 2023, the budget states. In other words, 200,000 tonnes are still missing in emission cuts. The government writes that it is working on further measures to close the gap. It mainly concerns measures in agriculture and requirements for the use of biofuel in shipping and fishing. – These are proposals that have already been put on the table and which I say must be carried out so that this budget goes up as far as it is possible to calculate, says Climate and Environment Minister Espen Barth Eide to news. The most important climate measures in the state budget Increased carbon sequestration in the soil is one of the climate measures the government is focusing on through the newly created Bionova. Photo: Ingrid Lindgaard Stranden The government is taking several climate measures in next year’s budget. Here are some of the most important: More expensive to emit greenhouse gases: The CO₂ tax will increase by 21 per cent beyond the expected price increase, from NOK 766 to NOK 952 per tonne in 2023. Increase turnover requirements for biofuel in road traffic. That is, the requirement to mix in biofuel. Introduce requirements to mix biofuel into machinery and vehicles that do not drive on roads, for example excavators, tractors and forestry machines. The government will set up Bionova, which will finance climate measures in agriculture. For example, measures to absorb and store more carbon in the soil. Increase the allocations to Enova by NOK 500 million. Introduces tax on the greenhouse gas SF6 (a very powerful greenhouse gas). Allocates money for a green food and restructuring package. Increasing support for offshore wind At the same time, it is not just measures on the plus side. Among other things, the government chooses to scrap Klimasats, a scheme for subsidies for climate measures in the municipalities. Still far from the 2030 targets In the run-up to the presentation, there was particularly great excitement about the government’s new “climate status and plan”. what they were in 1990. This goal comes on top of the Solberg government’s goal of a 50-55 percent cut in cooperation with the EU. The Støre government’s targets are significantly stricter than the Solberg government’s because the former also applies to sectors subject to quotas (oil and gas, industry and aviation within the EEA). In practice, this means that companies are not only allowed to buy climate quotas as they wish, but set a target for how much emissions are to be cut. In the budget documents, it appears that the climate policy until next year is closer to the 2030 target than when Erna Solberg was prime minister, but still a long way off. The government is aware that the gap is large, but writes that work is being done to put measures in place to close the gap. They have come the farthest in the non-quota sector. There, the government has calculated that with the current and planned policy, emissions will be cut by around 50 per cent by 2030. This is more than the current climate agreement with the EU requires and in line with what is expected to be the EU requirement in connection with the EU plan “Fit for 55”. For sectors subject to quotas, i.e. petroleum, industry and aviation, they have not come as far. The problem is simply that possible measures have not been investigated well enough. That is to say: You know a lot about what the measures can be, but not what they will cost. – Not fair enough or green enough SV leader Audun Lysbakken says that Norway is not on track to reach the climate goals. Audun Lysbakken is party leader in SV Photo: Javad Parsa / NTB – The government’s budget proposal is unfortunately not fair enough and not green enough, he says to news. He warns of tough negotiations on more climate measures when the government will try to secure a majority in the Storting for the budget with SV in particular. – It is very disappointing that the government is not doing more to cut emissions, we fear that the tax changes may actually increase them. There is no doubt that the environment will be central to the negotiations on this budget, says Lysbakken. Leader of the Future in our hands, Anja Bakken Riise says that it is frustrating to see that the government has the tools needed, but lacks the political will to cut enough emissions. – We cannot blow off the climate and environmental crisis in order to deal with the others. The government is peeing in its pants to keep warm. It is a very bad strategy, says Bakken Riise. – Today’s good news is that we can reach the climate targets. But that won’t happen if Jonas and Trygve continue as they are today, where climate ambitions can only be found in party speeches, she says. news clarifies: In an earlier version of this matter, we wrote that the government must “find” an extra 200,000 tonnes of emission cuts. The correct thing is that with the adopted policy there will be a shortage of 200,000 tonnes for next year, but that the government expects that the planned policy will close the gap.
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When EU climate requirements with a cry of distress – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
