Today, at 18.14 people all over the world are invited to show their solidarity with the Norwegian climate lawsuit. We light a candle at 18.14 to symbolise the Norwegian Constitution that was written in 1814. We believe that Norway is breaking article 112 in the Constitution that states;
‘Every person has the right to an environment that is conducive to health and to a natural environment whose productivity and diversity are maintained. Natural resources shall be managed on the basis of comprehensive long-term considerations which will safeguard this right for future generations as well. The authorities of the state shall take measures for the implementation of these principles’.
Norway has opened up for oil drilling in the Arctic. The burning of this oil will cause more climate change that WILL NOT help future and living generations to a safe and sustainable climate. If you agree, you are hereby invited to show your solidarity. Light a candle at home, use the #klimasøksmål and #peoplevsarcticoil and follow the lawsuit in Supreme Court from tomorrow via Klimasøksmål Arktis Facebook.
How Big Oil won access to the South-East Barents Sea on false economical promises
"...the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy asked the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate to remove the information that oil drilling could become unprofitable from the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate’s annual resource report for 2013 and asked the Directorate to withhold any reference to it from Parliament while they were considering opening the area." (see the full article here on Greenpeace website)
This is how powerful the Norwegian oil lobby is. Absolutely atrocious. It puts all our green initiatives to shame.
Hopefully with the climate court case, which is now coming up in the Supreme Court in less than two weeks, will we see that the government must be held accountable for their complete lack of environmental concern. The time period of Big Oil is over.
Picture borrowed from Greenpeace. Follow the climate court case via their Facebook page.
Book recommendation De best intensjoner - Oljelandet i klimakampen
De beste intensjoner - Oljelandet i klimakampen by Anne Karin Sæther, or "The Best of intentions - The oil country in the climate battle" is one of the best books I've read this year. It got great reviews when it came out in 2017, and is still a must read for anyone who wishes to understand the ultimate paradox that is how the Norwegian oil industry and climate legislation has been in bed together since day one.
The book gives you the historical background since we first found oil in 1969 at Ekofisk, and how the newly established Oil Office compiled "the ten oil commandments" that would govern Norwegian oil and climate policies in the years to come. It was decided that the oil should be extracted at a "moderate" estimate. This meant that Norway had given itself a limit to how much oil that should be extracted each year, based on the precautionary measures that we did not know how it would go. Later in the book, it is revealed that this "moderate" estimate were in fact higher than what the earliest oil pioners could ever imagine that Norway would extract of oil, but the principle of a moderate oil extractive pace was established to stay.
Then, we are presented with how Norway led the way as the climate leading nation, with the worlds first environmental minister, Gro Harlem Brundtland. In 1987 she presented the report "Our common future" in the UN's climate assembly, where she recognised the impact oil extractions would have on our climate. As one of the first nations, Norway presented its first climate law, which was to "stabilise" the CO2 emissions during the 1990s or latest in the year 2000.
However, in the Norwegian Parliament and oil industry, it was recognised how this climate law would hinder the oil industry. This is when the idea of climate quotas was first invented. It became crucial for Norway's new and growing industry, that gave Norway so much wealth, to not be strangled by climate legislation. Therefore, in the next UN assembly, the then statistician Jens Stoltenberg, presented for the environmental ministers the idea that emission cuts could be made outside ones own country. It was in Norway's interest that you could pay other countries a quota, in stead of reducing emissions in your own country.
In the next UN assembly, where Norway was part of negotiating forward a climate agreement, our new politics on CO2 emissions made us unpopular. Norway was criticised for caring more about national interests, than the climate, and that our protectionism was delaying the work with the climate agreement.
These are the events the Norwegian oil adventure was based upon. "The best intentions" then goes on and present some of the arguments the Norwegian oil industry has used to defend its further use of more oil extraction in a time when we know how closely linked the oil industry is to climate change and rising CO2 emissions. The myths of "the worlds cleanest oil" and "Norwegian oil to the worlds poor" are dissected and revealed. Further, the book talks about Statoils role in Norway, and how this has affected the Parliament and our politicians. It also discusses modern oil debates, as the Lofoten area.
This book is for anyone who wishes to understand how and why Norways biggest industry has played such a huge role in our modern history and policy making. It is also for anyone who is interested in Norwegian politics, international climate politics or just wishes to read a really well written book.
Bridge to the Future
This week, the yearly conference 'Bridge to the Future' was hosted at Folkets Hus i Oslo. The Bridge to the Future is an alliance between the Norwegian trade unions, the environmental movement, the church and scientific researchers who has come together because time is running out to build a sustainable society, and we need to act now.
The alliance demands are a democratic, planned and just transition to 100.000 green climate jobs, and to slow down Norways ever expanding oil and gas industry.
If you would like to see the conference, you can view it here:
If you are interested in reading more about the thoughts behind the 100.000 climate jobs demand, you can find these former publications here.