Today, Wednesday: Greed or hideous confidence?

CHRONICLE: This year ONS . theme It is “trust”. Renewable energy is included, but oil-sympathetic ONS panels and opening speakers from Shell, Total, Equinor and IEA reveal a conflict between fossil dependence and the green transition. Elon Musk is an exception.

last match

The Office for National Statistics is positioning itself in the green transition, but four out of six major partners are still oil companies. The relationship between fossil energy and climate change is now clear from the ONS website.

The discourse has changed. Otherwise, everything is as before, and two dilemmas arise:

• The slow speed of the green turn in Norway.
• The effect of restraining oil and gas revenues on the green transition.

the speed

Aim 1.5 degrees (1850 – 2100) Lost. We have passed 1.25 and will reach 1.5°C in 2029. The road is open to us Serious consequences at a 3.5 degree rise in global temperature. Norway’s climate goal of cutting emissions by 55 per cent and Stavanger by 80 per cent by 2030 – within seven years – appears unrealistic. Achieving such goals requires more than “jamming on”. It requires drastic measures, extreme restructuring, and incentives we have not seen, for the following reasons:

• Even when the world was “locked down” during the pandemic, greenhouse gas emissions fell by “only” 7%.
• Base electrification is a prerequisite. It will decorate Norway’s (and Equinor’s) climate calculations, but requires 23 TWh. If offshore wind is to be used, we are talking after 2030. Taking 23 TWh of land, while households are encouraged to implement 10 TWh of Enøk measures, is a contradiction. It is not musical.
  This applies to a “short-term” oil project. Because the oil will probably be phased out in the long run for climatic reasons, right? Perhaps building a power grid from the price level of two kWh in northern Norway to six kroner in southern Norway is more urgent?
• grown ups fossil energy players They now claim to be leading the way in the green transition. Taking green parking. But a lot of people are asking about her “by accident” the most is”green wash». Do they slow the green shift?

Many people take advantage of raw fossil energy. greed is uglysaid the Secretary-General of the United Nations. ONS and former Chairman of BP Statoil CEO, Helge Lund Its annual income was 705 million in 2021. Forskegels Norge is in full boom. Property has become an investment object. Prices are raised and ordinary young people are prevented from entering the housing market.

the challenge

To earn more, many “oil workers” wrapped themselves in green cloaks – turning after the wind. They now express a rhetorical concern affecting climate and nature, while their feet are firmly planted in their souls Dependent on raw fossil energy The camp of the “oligarchy” locks us in oil for decades to come. So, watch what they do – not what they say!

We must orient ourselves to reality, and look the future in the eye. Does the fact that hundreds of thousands have placed themselves near pots of fossil energy honey act as a brake on the green shift? Research has shown That many have a financial interest in extending the era of fossil energy. The state has never had a higher income from oil, and it is unlikely to choke the “milk cow” in favor of a quick green transition.

Moral dilemma

Fossil energy is also about health and air. new search It shows that air pollution (oil, gas, wood – PM 2.5) can lead to dementia. It is the state’s responsibility to protect its citizens. Instead, the state has become somewhat corrupt The “War Beneficiary” in relation to the war in Ukraine is in a moral dilemma. But we’ve been here before, because of our huge arms and our oil and gas exports. My archive, which was left to The National Archives In the fall many examples (illustration).

But many are now facing the situation as if it was the first time. revealed last week multi-consultation Norway has a solar energy potential of 199 TWh per year, which is more than 136 TWh for hydropower and 15 TWh from wind (vehicle). Many are surprised, although it only confirms what we have known for 30 years. I wrote an entire book about it in 1992 – “Sunshine Revolution”. But Norway’s turnaround is late. The facts are not highlighted. There is a lack of political will. There is opposition from the oil lobby. The owners of the electricity grid distinguish between adjacent electricity and solar electricity by demanding expensive rents and fees for the grid, even if you are supplying electricity to the neighboring building only two meters away.

Possible solutions

From being an uncritical microphone platform for the oil lobby, the press has come into question, as well as in “Oil City”. We need alert press to promote a green transition. It’s urgent. The pace must be increased. The oil lobby that meets at the ONS must be driven more by controversy, agitation, civil disobedience, surprise revelations, and crises. We also need good news, Eureka experiences, “aha moments”, – like Watchman And the times He recently called for incentives for Norwegian electric cars.

A “painless” green switch — when oil wells are emptied, when it is convenient for the oil industry — is not a solution. It is too little, too late, and gives the English philosopher John Locke It is true that “hell sees the truth – too late”.

ONS is so important a plaza that it ends up being an obsolete “oil fair”. So it must radically change its committees and program to create trust. Until that happens, there is reason to be mistrustful.