Norway's Contradiction. The Economist, January 22, 2009. "98-99% of Norway's electricity comes from hydroelectric plants. It was one of the first countries to adopt a carbon tax in an attempt to slow global warming, back in 1991. It was also the first country to capture carbon dioxide and store it underground. Making that process easier and cheaper is Norway's 'Apollo mission.' says the prime minister, Jens Stoltenberg. His centre-left coalition government has pledged to make the country carbon neutral by 2030, bringing forward its previous deadline of 2050. Meanwhile, Norway promises to be a 'driving force' for a new international treaty on climate change to replace the Kyoto protocol, which expires in 2012... [Yet, Norway] is the world's third-biggest exporter of gas and fourth-biggest exporter of oil. The process of extracting these fuels from below the North Sea releases some greenhouse gases within Norway itself. But when the oil and gas Norway exports are burned abroad, they generate far more emissions. When the government says Norway will be carbon neutral by 2030, it is taking only domestic emissions into account, not the much larger amount embedded in its hydrocarbon exports... Solvik Olsen [of the oposition Progress Party aaks] 'Why is Mr. Stoltenberg so anxious to stop Norwegians using gas for heating and cooking, and yet happy for Britons to do so? To celebrate the opening of a new gas pipeline to Britain, he even dropped in on an ordinary British customer for a cup of tea heated up with Norwegian gas, just the sort of thing the government frowns on in Norway.'"
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