Norway under pressure to scale back fossil fuel expansion plans
The Norwegian government is facing growing pressure to scale back its huge global fossil fuel expansion plans – including the development of a controversial new oilfield in the North Sea.
Climate activists from around the world descended on Stavanger in Norway last week to attend the AGM of the state-owned oil and gas giant Equinor. They warned that its plans to develop the huge Rosebank field in the North Sea, as well as other mega-projects in Canada, Brazil and Suriname, would drive climate breakdown with devastating consequences for humanity.
“You have been warned that we cannot have any new oil and gas fields if we are to have a shot at limiting the absolute worst of climate breakdown,” Lauren MacDonald, 22, from Scotland, told the Equinor board during a speech at the AGM. “[But] you continue to expand fossil fuel operations despite desperate warnings from climate scientists and are spending next to nothing on the transition that is our only hope of survival.”
Climate campaigners accuse the Norwegian government, which owns 67% of Equinor, of hypocrisy. They argue that at the same time as portraying itself as a climate leader on the world stage, the Norwegian state is ploughing ahead with new oil and gas developments around the world.
Recent analysis by Oil Change International found Norway is Europe’s “most aggressive” explorer of new oil and gas fields, awarding 700 new exploration licences in the past decade as well as Equinor’s specific plans.
In addition, it found the oil and gas within fields that are already licensed but not yet developed could lead to an additional 3 gigatonnes of CO2 emissions – 60 times Norway’s annual domestic emissions.
Frode Pleym, the head of Greenpeace Norway, said: “Norway is rightly praised
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