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As oil slumps, Norway explores new fields in the Arctic:
But the move does make you look askance at Norway. This week, MPs in the super-rich oil nation are expected to vote against further protection of one of the world's most important biological hotspots, so enabling continued exploration in the Barents Sea.
This comes off the back of a pledge to delay more than $10bn in taxes for petroleum companies, to spur investment which will help fund drilling in a uniquely biodiverse area called the marginal ice zone.
[...] But then Norway is environmentally at odds with itself.
You have the oil that made it one of the richest nations on earth. Then walk around Oslo and you will see electric cars all over the place - in fact, three out of four cars now sold in Norway are either wholly or partially electric.
And 98 percent of Norway's electricity comes from renewable energy, of which hydropower is the main source. The nation talks highly of its own sustainable prowess. And well it might.
But all those fossil fuels Norway extracts? They go overseas. The nation may not emit too many greenhouse gases, but it exports them on a colossal scale. Norway's wealth is someone else's smog.
Perhaps Norwegians welcome global warming?
(Score: 5, Informative) by looorg on Friday June 19 2020, @05:17PM (2 children)
Have you ever been to Norway? They don't care about global warming, there is no personal risk of them being swallowed by the sea since large chunks of the country is nothing but hills and mountains. That said one can't really blame them, oil/gas/petroleum is pretty much their main and only resource worth mentioning -- it's something around 55-60% of their entire economy. The second largest product is fish and that is about 10% of their economy. Sweden is the one with all the ore, forests etc. They really have nothing else, they are like the Saudi Arabia of the north -- or as one x-swedish politician put it they are the last soviet state (they were not amused at that comparison, one could question the validity of it since it came from a politician in Sweden that is by any mean less of a soviet state). The costs of living there and prices of things are just astronomical, I only go there for work if someone else pay and cover my expenses. If they had not had all the oil/gas/petro they would be at the bottom of the economical barrel and without the wealth it have/has/had generated there would be no 3/4 electric cars, there would be no large scale hydroelectric power etc. Having the oil paid for all of that. If we ever as a planet or species ditch our dependency on oil they are fucked -- cod exports just won't pay for the welfare state.
The thing about digging in the arctic is that it sort of opens up the gate for all the other countries with arctic access -- Russia, Canada, USA and Denmark (say hello to Greenland!). Can't really have any objections about what they do if you do it to.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 20 2020, @06:56AM (1 child)
It's a decent strategy - if psychopathic.
Why should I care about global warming if it affects YOU more than me? Those little islands at 1m above sea-level are already fucked. It's going to take ShangHai and Bangladesh submerging for the real action to happen, when 250m migrants arrive on their neighbors doorstep.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday June 20 2020, @01:14PM
There's no point to pathologizing conflict of interest.
Keep in mind that most adaptation to global warming is going to be pretty cheap over the timeframe we're talking about. Even moving 250 million from the countries in question is not that expensive. So why should I care when most adaptation just isn't going to be that big of a deal given a few centuries and a huge world economy?
Besides at this point, shouldn't we be thinking about adaptation anyway? High end estimates of climate sensitivity shoot way past holding the line at 2 C already and nobody is interested in radical greenhouse gases emission elimination. These regions most effected would probably be better served figuring out how to negotiate permanent immigration to other countries rather than trying to hold back the tide (unless, of course, they're as competent with dikes as the Netherlands).