EU and Norway Forge Alliance To Tackle Climate Change, Support Green Transition
Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced today the launch of a Green Alliance between Norway and the European Union, aimed at strengthening joint climate and environmental protection action, and facilitating cooperation on the clean energy and industrial transition.
The EU and Norway share similar climate goals, with both targeting 55% emissions reductions by 2030, and both committing to climate neutrality by 2050. Støre and Von der Leyen announced plans to strengthen climate, energy and industrial cooperation in February 2022, and have followed up with discussions for increased cooperation in areas including battery production, critical raw materials, and energy.
von der Leyen said:
“Norway is a long-standing and reliable partner to the EU and we share a common vision for building a climate-neutral continent. We want our societies and economies to prosper together while reducing emissions, protecting nature, decarbonising our energy systems, and greening our industries. This Green Alliance makes our bond even stronger and allows us to design a better future together.”
Key focus areas of the new alliance include strengthening efforts to combat climate change, with cooperation in areas including climate adaptation, carbon pricing, carbon removals, and carbon capture, transport, utilisation and storage, and increasing cooperation on environmental issues such as halting and reversing biodiversity loss, forest degradation and deforestation, promoting circular economy and addressing plastics, and developing global standards for the management of chemicals and waste and sustainable ocean management.
Additional Green Alliance priority areas include accelerating the clean energy transition, with a focus on hydrogen and offshore renewable energy, supporting the green industrial transition, decarbonizing transport, and increasing regulatory and business cooperation, collaboration on research, education, and innovation on decarbonization renewable energy and bioeconomy, and promoting sustainable finance and investment.
Støre said:
“This is a historic agreement. Cooperation and joint efforts will be essential to our success in achieving our climate targets and implementing the green transition. The Green Alliance established with the EU today will provide a framework for closer climate, energy and industrial cooperation between Norway and the EU.”