– If we are to achieve such ambitious climate targets, both industry, business and the public must know which climate policy they will be dealing with.
That’s what Mathilde Tybring-Gjedde in the Conservative Party says. She calls the government a “climate sink”.
And she is not alone in thinking that.
“Naughty climate-fancy”
Despite wide-ranging climate policies, the Conservative Party, Frp, KrF, MDG, Rødt and SV have now united in their dissatisfaction with what they believe to be a flawed climate plan from the government.
In 2021, the Støre government decided that by 2030 Norway must cut at least 55 percent of greenhouse gas emissions compared to 1990 levels. Norway has currently cut 4.7 percent, according to SSB.
Before the summer, a unanimous Storting decided that the government should put forward an updated plan for how Norway will reach the target.
But in retrospect, the government has said that they would rather submit a report to the Storting for the period up to 2035.
The opposition reacts to the fact that the government has pushed back the timing. In addition, there is great dissatisfaction with the fact that the government has referred to an annex to the state budget, the so-called “Green Book”, as a satisfactory climate plan.
“A cheeky climate trick”, the opposition calls it. They believe that the Green Book both lacks concrete measures and that it is a circumvention of democracy.
For once, the FRP, Høyre, Krf, MDG, Rødt and SV are standing together on a climate issue.
Photo: Celina Therese Ekholt / NRK
Rare unison
On Tuesday, the opposition met NRK outside the Storting. Together they have a majority in the Storting. But it is rare for these parties to come together on a climate issue.
– This has been an important collaboration in order to force the government to present the Storting report that they did not want to present, says Lars Haltbrekken in SV.
Because the government’s Green Book is an annex to the state budget, it is not subject to consideration in the Storting. All parties in the opposition react to this.
– Right now there is a big democratic vacuum in climate policy, says Une Bastholm in MDG.
She believes that Grønn Bok also lacks many measures, and refers to it as a “draft”.
– It is simply untidy for a government in such an important matter not to submit a report to the Storting that enables the Storting to deal with the entirety of climate policy, says Bastholm.
I think the plan is set
Climate and Environment Minister Andreas Bjelland Eriksen (Ap) for his part points out that, in addition to the Green Book, the government will present a climate report next year.
He disagrees with the claim that the government has not drawn up a satisfactory plan.
– The Green Book is a very important tool for reaching the climate goals, says Eriksen.
But Eriksen will not answer NRK about which period the climate report coming in 2024 will apply to.
– Will the climate report be about the road from 2024 until 2035, or about the road after 2030 and until 2035?
– We will come back to when exactly the report to the Storting that we will present next year will look like, he replies.
Climate Minister Andreas Bjelland Eriksen (Ap).
Photo: Amanda Iversen Orlich / NRK
Eriksen emphasizes that everything you do in the coming years is important.
– The fact that the climate report should have 2035 as a perspective does not mean that you cannot take into account the years before 2035 as well, says the new minister.
In response to the criticism that presenting the Green Book is not a democratic process, Eriksen says:
– I believe there is nothing more democratic than presenting how we are going to cut tonnes, at the same time as presenting our proposal for the state budget.
He points out that it is the Storting that adopts the national budget.
Une Bastholm (MDG), Mathilde Tybring-Gjedde (H) and Terje Halleland (Frp) have joined forces to demand that the government draw up a climate plan for the road to 2030.
Photo: Celina Therese Ekholt / NRK
Frp: Doubtful that the goals will be achieved
– We are very doubtful that we will achieve the climate goals, says Terje Halleland in the FRP.
Halleland believes that the government sets ambitious goals for Norway, but that when the time for implementation approaches, they postpone the timing.
– I believe that ambitious climate targets require ambitious measures. Then we have to know what the ambitious measures entail. I am a little afraid that what the government is planning for now is that we should rather talk about 2035 and the time after 2030.
The Conservative Party is also clear that the government must now take action:
– It does not help with a new climate minister, if you have the same climate policy. Norway lacks power, the grid and a credible climate plan. The government must deliver that, says Tybring-Gjedde.
Andreas Bjelland Eriksen says he thinks the criticism is strange. He believes Norway is well on its way to cutting emissions by 2030.
– Green Book shows us that we are on the way to the goal, says Eriksen.
2023-10-26 20:21:53
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