New figures for last year show that, for the first time, greenhouse gas emissions are lower in Sweden than in Norway.
In 2015, Norway released 500,000 tons more CO2 when compared to Sweden. This is equivalent to the annual emissions of over 217,000 private cars.
‘We’re losing ground against Sweden because we have a government that has deliberately dropped the cutting of emissions. It is an embarrassing day to be Norwegian’, said Heikki Eidsvoll Holmås of the Sosialistisk Venstreparti (SV) to the news agency, NTB.
Moving in the opposite direction
Fresh statistics rendered by the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency show that, in 2015, Sweden emitted 53.4 million tons of CO2 equivalents. The corresponding figure for Norway was 53.9 million tons.
While Sweden has reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 25% since 1990, emissions in Norway have increased by 3.9%.
‘SV has three challenges to the government. Firstly, say no to new oil, secondly, don’t choose highway development rather than collective efforts in the cities, and lastly, get people to choose electric cars rather than cars which run on fossil fuels’ said Holmås.
Oil and gas
Broken down by the number of inhabitants, Swedes released 5.5 tons of CO2 equivalency per person last year. By comparison, each Norwegian released emissions of 10.4 tons in 2015.
Even when we take away the oil and gas emissions, which, in Norway, account for 28% of the total, we still emit more per person than the Swedes, in fact, 7.5 tons of CO2 per person.
‘Sweden is likely to achieve its climate targets for 2020, Norway will not’, said SVs’ representative.
Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today
