Nearly half of all municipalities in Norway could report lower carbon emissions last year, while 80 percent have cut emissions over the last decade. Most of the reduction came through less road traffic, while emissions from agriculture, shipping and aviation have risen since 2023.
The latter isn’t good, but Climate and Environment Minister Andreas Bjelland Eriksen not surprisingly chose to stress the positive when new numbers were released from the state environmental directorate last week.
“Our municipalities (called kommuner in Norwegian, and equivalent to the local governments of cities and towns around the country) play a key role in climate efforts,” Eriksen said. “When emissions fall locally, that has an impact nationally. The reduction shows that we’re moving in the right direction.”
He added that it’s thus “decisive” that local municipalities “keep up their climate efforts in the future.” Most of Norway’s emissions, however, still come from its oil industry and that now looks likely to keep expanding and producing as well.
NewsinEnglish.no staff
