• monitoring and providing information about environmental development    
• providing the Norwegian Ministry of the Environment with advice, assessments and expert support    
• exercising authority through regulations and control measures    
• assessing the degree to which the different sectors of society have achieved their environmental goals    
• instructing and guiding county governors within the SFT’s area of responsibility    
• promoting Norwegian objectives in international environmental co-operation    
• helping to improve the efficiency of the environmental protection work of developing countries

New environmental problems
To some extent environmental protection work has changed since the SFT started its activities in the mid 1970s. Some of the environmental problems of those days have been solved, but new ones have emerged.

A characteristic of today’s environmental problems is that they require more integrated solutions. We are confronted with a number of national and global threats to the environment, which could have serious consequences in the long term. These are closely related to our high level of consumption, and far-reaching changes will be required to solve them.

Sustainable production and consumption
We recognise that the traditional tools of the environmental sector alone are not enough to achieve sustainable development. To help create such a development, we will put more emphasis on sustainable production and consumption and we will increase our efforts in the international arena. 

We are giving priority to work on climate change and the effects of energy consumption, chemicals which are harmful to health and the environment, and environmental problems in built-up areas, since these are some of the most serious threats to sustainable development.

Read more about SFT (PDF file)