Norwegians seek to lead battle against Global Warming

Reuters reports that Norway will aim to cut its greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2050, the Prime Minister of Norway said on 19 April 2007.

	Green Party Leader Elizabeth May.

In the most ambitious national plan against global warming, Jens Stoltenberg said that Norway wanted other rich nations to set similar "carbon neutral" aims.

"Norway would be the first country in the world to take on such a concrete commitment," Mr Stoltenberg said to his Labour Party. The announcement was met by a standing ovation.

Under the 2050 plan, domestic emissions would be offset by cuts abroad or by buying emissions quotas on international markets. For example, Norway could help China or India to shift to using solar or wind power from burning coal or oil.

Stoltenberg said his three-party centre-left cabinet, which has a majority in parliament, are already backing his proposals.

He did not say how emissions cuts would be spread between cuts at home or measures abroad.

Environmental pressure group Greenpeace said that Norway should do more at home rather than use its vast oil wealth to buy its way out of the problem.

They also said Norway should take responsibility for 500 million tonnes of emissions caused by oil and gas exports. Under UN rules, exports do not count towards Norway's totals.

Many Norwegians are worried about climate change even though the economy relies heavily on earnings from oil and gas. Burning fossil fuels is widely blamed as a main cause of global warming.

Norway is currently the world's number five oil exporter, with savings of $300 bn (€225.5 bn) from oil trade.

Among other tough goals, California aims to cut emissions by 80 per cent by 2050, by which time Iceland aims to phase out the use of oil.

Norway's greenhouse gas emissions levels were 54 million tonnes in 2005 including offshore oil and gas platforms, that's 8.5 per cent above 1990 levels.

Their emissions per capita are about 11 tonnes, almost three times the world average.

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