Norway

Transport

• In 2018, cash payments were introduced for scrapping motorcycles, mopeds, campers and caravans.
• In 2017, about 20 percent of new passenger cars were zero-emissions and about 30 percent were hybrid. So far in 2020, almost 50 percent of new passenger cars are zero-emissions vehicles. By 2025, Norway says that 100 percent of all new passenger cars and light vans to be zero-emissions.
• Norway is paving the way for a rapid transition to electric mobility to have a zero-emissions standard. The country is facilitating this with substantial tax breaks, free parking, access to bus lanes, and exemptions from road tolls and car ferry charges. The sale of electric vehicles has increased considerably over the last six years.
• In 2019, the government published a National Action Plan for Alternative Fuels Infrastructure in the Transport Sector as part of their work towards a fossil free public transport by 2025. They also published an action plan for green shipping and an action plan for infrastructure for alternative fuels in the transport sector as part of their work to reduce emissions from fisheries and domestic shipping by 50 percent by 2030.

Shipping

• In 2019, Norway became chair of the sub-Committee on Pollution Prevention and Response which is working to limit black carbon emissions from international shipping and properly measure black carbon emissions to determine appropriate control measures.
• In 2019, the Norwegian parliament committed to making the country’s UNESCO-protected fjords free from cruise and ferry emissions by 2026.
• In 2019, the government announced it would cut emissions from domestic shipping and fishing vessels in half by 2030.

HFCs

• Norway was the first industrialised country to ratify the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol. Norway has established a more stringent baseline for the phasedown of HFCs than the requirements stipulated in the agreement.
• Norway has a tax and refund scheme for HFCs, incentivising the use of alternative substances and the proper destruction of HFCs.

Oil and Gas

• In 2015, Norway endorsed and financially supported the World Bank’s Zero Routine Flaring by 2030 initiative which will help significantly reduce black carbon and methane emissions. Gas flaring, except flaring for safety reasons, has long been prohibited in Norway, and all routine flaring has been eliminated.
• In 2017, guiding principles to reduce methane emissions across the natural gas value chain were collaboratively developed and signed by major oil industry companies, including Norwegian company Equinor (previously Statoil).

Residential Heating

• Several burn right campaigns have been kicked off across the country. As part of these efforts, the city of Bergen announced a ban on using old wood stoves starting in 2021.
• In 2019, many cities joined Oslo and Bergen by participating in ongoing exchange programs that give subsidies to residents who exchange their old wood stoves, and more money was also made available.
• In 2018, the government banned the use of mineral oil for heating in residential, public, and commercial buildings, starting in 2020.
• In 2017, a Nordic project financed by the Nordic Council of Ministers went through the emission factors for short-lived climate pollutant emissions from residential wood combustion to improve Nordic emissions inventories of short-lived climate pollutants.

Agriculture

• Ongoing funding is provided for research work relating to the reduction of methane emissions from both enteric and soil sources.
• In 2017, 15 million NOK was allocated to fund a genetic research project in the hopes of breeding cows with reduced methane production and other projects, including feed-composition research to reduce enteric methane.

Assessments

• In 2020, the Norwegian Environment Agency published the report, Mitigation measure analysis 2030: Short-term climate effect and co-benefits. This analysis of climate effect in the short term (10-years) and health effects of measures to reduce greenhouse gases in the long term (100 years) showed that many of these measures have substantial climate effect both in the short and long term and give health benefits. This was particularly true for measures that reduce methane and black carbon, like eating less red meat, cutting emissions from wood burning and transport measures.
• In 2018, the Norwegian Environment Agency published the report, Short-term climate effect and health effects of measures to reduce emissions of climate forcers in Norway. Unlike previous studies, this study assessed measures aimed at reducing greenhouse gases and short-lived climate forcers together. This type of analysis could assist in building a portfolio of measures that reduce the rate of warming in the near term and at the same time consider the long-term perspectives of the Paris agreement.
• In 2016, the Norwegian Environment Agency published the report Climate mitigation measures up to 2030: Short term climate effects and health effects and found that the most important measures for both climate and health impacts are switching to electric and hydrogen vehicles; electrification of ferries and passenger ships; reduction in passenger car traffic in the larger towns and zero growth in the rest of the country.
• In 2014, the Norwegian Environment Agency published a report on Black carbon and methane in the Norwegian Barents region detailing the effects of short-lived climate pollutants on this vulnerable Arctic region and proposing efforts to mitigate them, including using diesel particulate filters, pellet burning and other more efficient stoves, and converting manure and food waste into biogas.
• In 2014, the Norwegian Environment Agency published the Summary of proposed action plan for Norwegian emissions of short-lived climate forcers in English.
• In 2013, the Norwegian Environment Agency, on behalf of the Ministry of the Environment published a proposed national action plan for short-lived climate pollutants to comprehensively assess their climate and health impacts in Norway. At that time, some information was limited and it helped spur better monitoring, emissions inventories, climate modelling, and valuation of the health effects.

Bilateral Cooperation

• The Norwegian Environment Agency is cooperating with the Chinese Research Academy for Environmental Sciences and the Chinese Academy for Environmental Planning on a three-year capacity building project (2020-2022) to control black carbon emissions in Northern China. The project will strengthen the scientific knowledge on emissions, atmospheric processes, effects, and the co-benefits of reducing black carbon and organic carbon, and provide policy recommendations on emission reductions based on updated/new air quality and climate change information. The project will raise the general awareness amongst policy makers in China on air quality, health, and climate co-benefits of black carbon and organic carbon reductions, and improve capacity in China to control emissions. The Norwegian Institute of Public Health and CICERO (Centre for International Climate Research) are also participating in the project on the Norwegian side.
• Norway and India are working together on a project called “Future Refrigeration India: INDEE+.” The project aims at supporting the Indian refrigeration and air conditioning sector in its transition towards more environmentally-friendly technology to achieve the goals of the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol.

International Leadership
 

• In 2019, Norway was instrumental to the decision by the IPCC-49 Plenary to produce an IPCC Methodology Report on Short-lived Climate Forcers. The work is now well under way, and Norway is contributing with funds and participation in expert meetings.
• Norway served on the steering committee of the Climate and Clean Air Coalition between 2014-2020, holding the co-chairmainship from 2014-2015.
• In 2019, Norway launched the first global noncommunicable disease strategy “Better Health, Better Lives: Combating Non-Communicable Diseases in the Context of Norwegian Development Policy (2020-2024),” highlighting air pollution as a risk factor and citing the CCAC’s BreatheLife campaign as an important way for countries to improve air pollution and endorse the World Health Organization initiative to improve air quality by 2030.
• In 2019, as part of the Non-Communicable Disease strategy, Norway committed to promoting pollution-free cooking through its Renewable energy in Norwegian Development Policy.
• In 2017, the Arctic Council, of which Norway is a member, signed the Fairbanks Declaration in response to the Arctic's dramatic rate of warming stating that “the pace and scale of continuing Arctic warming will depend on future emissions of greenhouse gases and short-lived climate pollutants” and committing to global action to reduce short-lived climate pollutants to mitigate climate change.