Norway’s Climate and Environment Minister Ola Elvestuen was worried before he traveled to the UN’s climate summit in Poland this week, and he had good reason to be. While he voiced concern over “too many disagreements” among participating nations, Norway itself hasn’t done very well in cutting its own carbon emissions, and tumbled in new […]
Electric ‘city cars’ getting ready to roll
December 4, 2018
Scores of identical small electric cars have been neatly parked for the past week or so on property owned by state railway NSB in Oslo. They’re ready to be shared among Oslo residents who’ll soon be able to borrow them when needed, as NSB breaks into a new market that can compete with taxis and discourage […]
Ousted Solheim fires back at UN
November 28, 2018
Erik Solheim was back home in Oslo last weekend, and vigorously trying to defend himself after having to resign as head of the United National Environment Programme (UNEP). He had no choice, after the UN’s secretary general himself told him he had to go. Solheim’s version is that he “had to go because I tried […]
Solheim resigns as UN climate chief
November 20, 2018
Erik Solheim, the former Norwegian government minister and leader of the Socialist Left party (SV), has admitted to making mistakes in how he tried to save the climate while traveling business class. Newspaper Aftenposten reported late Tuesday afternoon that the head of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) has now decided to resign, after spending around […]
New oil discovery ‘important’
November 2, 2018
Norway’s state oil company Equinor called the discovery of more oil in the Barents Sea “important,” when announcing this week that a well drilled near the Johan Castberg field can yield 25 million barrels. Nick Ashton, in charge of Equinor’s offshore exploration on the Norwegian and British continental shelfs, said oil from the new well […]
Glacier recedes by a ‘dramatic’ degree
October 31, 2018
Another Norwegian glacier has shown “dramatic” signs of being threatened by climate change. The Nigard Glacier in Jostedalen lost fully 80 meters of its ice just this past summer. It was the warmest summer ever recorded in Norway, also characterized by a severe drought. That contributed to how the Nigard Glacier receded to a degree […]
Calls rise to limit cruiseship arrivals
October 24, 2018
Increasingly fierce opposition to the numbers of large cruiseships docking in Norway in recent years is finally being heard. Officials in Bergen, Norway’s busiest cruise destination, are now asking the state for permission to limit the number of cruiseships to three per day, in an effort to control the hordes of tourists who’ve been inundating […]
Giant skyscraper plan meets fury
October 9, 2018
Local opposition is strong to wealthy Norwegian industrialist Kjell Inge Røkke’s plans to build a skyscraper at Fornebu in Bærum, west of Oslo. Residents literally in the shadow of the 60-story building are already calling it Norway’s version of Trump Tower. “We are outraged over these plans,” Anne Greve, deputy leader of an organization representing […]
Top management team quits Bellona
October 2, 2018
Norway’s high-profile environmental foundation Bellona lost its entire management group this week after a disagreement with Bellona’s founder Frederic Hauge. Their mass resignation follows a year of unsuccessful discussions over strategy and leadership under Hauge. “This is all about whether a management group shall function as a group, and a question of how much Frederic shall […]
Electric car owners start losing benefits
September 26, 2018
Owners of electric cars in Norway, and especially in the capital, have enjoyed lots of benefits meant to encourage their purchase. Many are starting to lose their exemption from road tolls and now the City of Oslo intends to demand payment for using recharging stations that have been free. The cars called elbiler have been […]
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