The broad oil tax agreement from Stortinget imposes strict requirements on cuts in the greenhouse gas emissions from the Norwegian continental shelf.
In the agreement, the majority asks the government and industry to present a plan for how emissions from oil and gas production can “be reduced by 50 per cent by 2030, compared with 2005, within current policy instruments”.
“This is a sharpening of the climate goals the industry has set,” the Arbeiderpartiet’s leader Jonas Gahr Støre told NTB.
The plan must take into account “cost-effective emission reductions”, including further electrification of existing fields and low- and zero-emission technology in new fields and consideration of the mainland power system, it states. The work must be completed before the end of 2021.
In addition, the Government is asked to develop new low and zero discharge solutions for offshore vessels.
A study will also be conducted on the framework conditions for green investments. The hope is that this will promote investments in, among other things, hydrogen, offshore wind, CO2 purification and green shipping.
Venstre’s parliamentary leader Terje Breivik believes the new climate requirements are of great importance.
“One thing is that it is important for the climate. But it is almost as important to establish a domestic market for upscaling of new green technology,” he says.
© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today
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