Representatives for Norway, western Europe’s biggest oil producer, were yesterday to face an Oslo court in a lawsuit brought by Greenpeace and another group opposed to drilling in the Arctic.
Greenpeace, along with Natur og Ungdom (Nature and Youth), an environmental group targeting youths, has sued the Norwegian state over licenses awarded last year for oil prospecting in the Barents Sea.
The plaintiffs accuse Norway of violating the Paris Agreement and a section of the constitution amended in 2014 that guarantees the right to a healthy environment.
They claim this is the first time a state has been taken to court for violating the agreements signed at the December 2015 Climate Change Conference in Paris, which came into force in November last year.
“It is clear to us that this new search for oil is in violation of the Paris Agreement and the Norwegian constitution, and we look forward to raising these arguments in court,” Greenpeace Norway head Truls Gulowsen said in a statement.
Norway’s oil revenues are dwindling — crude oil production has been halved since 2001. In May last year, it awarded 10 licenses covering 40 blocs to 13 oil companies, including Norway’s state-owned mammoth Statoil, US groups Chevron and ConocoPhillips, Germany’s DEA, Japan’s Idemitsu, Sweden’s Lundin, OMV of Austria and Russia’s Lukoil.
The two non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are now calling for the concessions to be canceled because of the environmental risks.
The lawyers representing the Norwegian state refused to comment on Monday.
Norway has insisted it is abiding by the constitution and the “validity of the licenses cannot therefore be attacked on this basis,” Norwegian Ministry of Energy spokesman Ole Berthelsen said.
Three of the most contested licenses are located in the immediate vicinity of a maritime border with Russia that has remained unexplored until now, in an area that the two countries long disputed before reaching an agreement in 2010.
One of these zones is the northernmost Norway has ever opened to prospecting, and the non-governmental organizations are concerned about its proximity to the ice floes.
“The Norwegian government, like every government, has an obligation to protect people’s right to a healthy environment,” Natur og Ungdom spokeswoman Ingrid Skjoldvaer said in a statement.
With drilling in the Arctic, “it is us in the younger generation, and our children, who will feel the worst effects of this oil being burned.”
Paradoxically, Norway is also home to the world’s biggest fleet of electric cars per capita. It aims to end sales of new cars equipped with only combustion engines by 2025.
However, Norway’s black gold has also enabled it to build up the world’s biggest sovereign wealth fund, today worth about US$1 trillion.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was