Young Friends of the Earth Norway and Greenpeace lost a historic case against the Norwegian government yesterday over new licenses for arctic oil drilling. Though a visible and damaging loss, permeating through are billows of optimism and shifting environmental governance. KATIE HODGETTS reports
The Lofoten peninsula Norway’s Arctic North is not just stunningly beautiful. It's also home to the world’s largest deep water coral reef and full of wildlife. So why is the government saying it will have to be opened up to the oil and gas industry? Never mind the country's warm words on environment and climate change, writes Joseph Dutton. It's fossil fuels that rule the roost.
Large-scale oil extraction in the Arctic is irreconcilable with the 2C global warming limit, write Aleksander Melli, Pål W. Lorentzen, Mari Seilskjær, Hans Morten Haugen & Truls Gulowsen. And that puts Norway's dash to develop Arctic oil into direct conflict with its Constitution, which requires the state to try and secure climate stability for its citizens, present and future. A lawsuit is imminent.
Engineers in Norway aim to put their mighty hydroelectric dams to a new purpose, writes Paul Brown - as giant batteries to store up surplus power from wind and sun across Europe, and put it back in the grid when generation falls off or demand is strong.
A new biosafety report for the Norwegian Environment Agency says GM foods cannot be declared safe due to major gaps in the science, writes Nafeez Ahmed. Indeed research clearly indicates harmful and adverse impacts to both health and environment. But Monsanto insists that GMOs are just as safe as, or even safer than, conventional crops.
Norway's sovereign wealth fund, worth over $900 billion, has today announced that it will divest from coal, a move expected to force the sale of investments worth $13.3 billion. Campaigners say that other funds have now 'run out of excuses' not to follow suit.
The COP20 host, Peru's President Humala, certainly talked the talk on indigenous rights last September when he signed a $300 million deal with Norway. But his violations of indigenous rights, 'hands off' approach to murders of indigenous leaders and recent unguarded comments betray his true sentiments.
Two huge open pit mines in northern Norway are on the verge of approval, writes Tina Andersen Vågenes - even though they would dump hundreds of millions of tonnes of tailings in fjords where wild salmon spawn. Scientists are voicing serious concerns, and protests are growing, but government and mining companies appear determined to push the projects forward regardless.
Democratising energy would save thousands of lives a year in Britain alone - releasing us from the clutches of corporate utilities, and building an energy commons in which we are all owners and participants, no longer captive, exploited consumers. More than that, it would be a big step forward in saving the planet.
In Norway, electric vehicles are out-selling conventional cars, giving the country the world's highest rate of EV ownership, writes Sophie Morlin-Yron.
Scandinanvia's biggest pension fund manager will cut all its investments in 'climate villains', writes Sophie Morlin-Yron - including 40 companies in the coal, tar sands and palm oil sectors.
Back in 2009 it was heralded as a potential model for REDD+ and reducing rates of deforestation but Norway's deal with Guyana appears to have made little progress
As the annual and highly controversial Norwegian whale hunt begins, Joanna Toole argues the evidence proving the practice is cruel, unnecessary and increasingly unpopular is now overwhelming
Commercial whaling by many nations continues despite an international ban and widescale condemnation. What may end the practice, argues Peter Nolan-Smith, is that the financial incentives are starting to dry up
Norway's $1 billion of anti-deforestation funding to Indonesia is nothing short of amazing. But we should watch very carefully to see whether the money reaches the right pockets...
A Norwegian research scientist can trace PCB pollution on the seabed along the Norwegian coast directly back to the manufacturer. Norwegian authorities are considering suing chemical giants such as Monsanto and Bayer for millions of pounds. They may now pay for their misdemeanours, says Tom Erik Økland
