STAVANGER, Norway (AP) – North Sea oil and gas have helped make Norway one of the richest countries in the world. But as Norwegians head to the polls on Monday, fears about climate change have put the future of the industry at the top of the campaign agenda.
The ruling Conservatives, led by Prime Minister Erna Solberg, and the opposition Labor Party, which leads opinion polls, both advocate a gradual move away from fossil fuels that continue to sustain the economy.
But the largest parties rarely rule alone in Norway; younger players are often forced to build a majority coalition and can have an excessive influence on the government’s agenda. Some call for a more radical break with the dominant industry and revenue stream.
“Our demand is to stop looking for oil and gas and stop handing out new permits to companies,” says Lars Haltbrekken, spokesman for the climate and energy of the socialist left party, likely a coalition partner for Labor. He claims that after eight years in office, the government is protecting the status quo at a time when the country is thirsty for a post-oil future.
A report in August by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change on global flood and fire forecasting created a surge in Norway that has grown throughout this election campaign.
It also forces Norwegians to struggle with a paradox at the center of their society.
With its hydroelectric power grid and electric cars, they are among the most enthusiastic green energy consumers in the world, but decades of oil and gas exports mean this 5.3 million nation enjoys a generous cushioning well-being and settling on the world’s largest sovereign wealth. background.
Tina Bru, Minister of Oil and Energy, says it is unthinkable that the country will force an end to the country’s largest industry, which is responsible for 40% of exports and directly occupies more than 5% of the force of work.
“My question is always: what happens after you stop? What else will you do to make sure the world achieves its climate goals? It may affect our own climate budget, but it will not make a difference globally, ”he says.
It agrees with a report highlighted by the Norwegian Oil and Gas Association, an industrial group, which says the end of Norwegian production would have a net negative effect on global emissions. Demand would remain the same and cleaner Norwegian production would be replaced by other countries with higher emissions, she says. She prefers a long-term approach that focuses on demand.
“It’s a little disappointing in this campaign where we see that the only way to discuss policy and have credibility about your desire to reduce emissions is to stop producing oil and gas. It’s a more nuanced issue that includes other things like l ‘agriculture and transport’.
About 70% of all new cars sold in Norway are electric, consumers continue to enjoy government subsidies and the government has indicated that they will raise environmental taxes. Earlier this month, he also proposed modifying the current tax regime, where some explorers will have to take more of the risk of seeking oil.
Labor supports the approach and admits it represents a similar future for the industry. But it has promised a more interventionist industrial policy that will encourage support for new green industries, such as wind power, “blue hydrogen” which uses natural gas to produce an alternative fuel, and carbon capture and storage, which is about bury ocean carbon dioxide.
However, any post-election horse trade is likely to be full for Labor. The socialist left says it will not support the light and the other likely partner, the Center Party, also demands a more aggressive approach to energy change.
“Right now our plan is to run alongside our old friends from these parts,” says Espen Barth Eide, a spokesman for Labor Energy. “It simply came to our notice then. But if your initial position is to end the exploration, that won’t happen. … We will try to have a mature dialogue on the next phase of the oil industry. “
Most of the country’s oil and gas still come from mature areas in the North Sea, but most untapped reserves are in the Barents Sea, above the Arctic Circle, a red line for environmentalists. Eide says a possible compromise could be found by focusing on where oil exploration can take place in the future.
However, Haltbrekken, former president of Friends of the Earth Norway, a climate charity, says the new government needs to be more urgent. “The IPCC report made a big impression on the population. But there is one thing I fear more than what was in the report, and that is that apathy and despair will take over. People might think this is such a huge problem that we can’t do anything about it. But we can. We can do a lot to fix it. It just has to start now. “
Election forecasts will be announced when voting closes at 21:00 (1900 GMT) on Monday. The final official count for parliament of 169 members usually comes at some point overnight, but experts believe the results could come faster this year with a record number of people already elected before voting . More than 78% of the eligible people in this nation, out of 5.3 million, voted in the last national elections.
___
Read more stories about climate issues from The Associated Press at https://www.apnews.com/Climate