All people and peoples have a common "ecological space" that we
share, in the form of global common resources, such as the atmosphere, world
oceans, and biological diversity. Through pollution and other activities people
have a negative impact on these common resources, i.e. they occupy parts of this
ecological space. Our greatest challenge is that the resources in the world,
both in the form of economic resources and shares in the ecological space, are
so unfairly distributed. The world's poor have a legitimate right to an
increased standard of living. But the natural basis on our
planet cannot cope with a steadily increasing world population adopting
present-day consumer standards and levels in the industrialized world. In many
areas man has already exceeded, or is about to exceed, the limits that nature
sets. This is the backdrop against which the world's consumption and production
patterns must be changed, and the reason that the industrialized nations have a
special responsibility to lead the way.
Diversity of life on the planet, biological diversity, is being lost
increasingly fast. Ecosystems are degraded and species and populations are
disappearing at a rate several hundred if not thousand times faster than is
natural. According to the UN global report on biodiversity, as many as 10 per
cent of the species in the rain forests may disappear over the next three
decades, for instance. The loss of biological diversity occurs because habitats
are being destroyed by exploitation of the acreage, harvesting and
over-consumption of biological resources, spreading of non-native organisms, and
pollution.
Biological diversity is basic to human existence. It meets man's fundamental
needs for food, air, medicines, and protection from heat and cold. It also
covers many secondary human needs connected with production of goods and
services, education, work, recreation, esthetics and relaxation. Biological
diversity also plays a decisive role for life-supporting processes and cycles in
nature, such as cleaning of air and water, formation of soil, fixing of nitrogen
and carbon, and the environment's resistance to strain in the form of long-term
climatic change, for example. These services are vital to the creation of wealth
in society.
The UN Climate Panel has established that discharges from human activity
largely contribute to the increased concentration of greenhouse gases in the
atmosphere. The UN Climate Panel estimates that a temperature rise of between 1
and 3.5 degrees C will occur by year 2100 if no measures are taken. Such a rise
would be the fastest increase in global average temperature for 10,000 years and
result in the highest global average temperature in 150,000 years. Carbon
dioxide (CO2) constitutes the largest part of the human discharges. The Panel
concludes that man-made emissions of CO2 must be reduced by 60 per cent relative
to the 1990 level if the concentration in the atmosphere is to stabilize at
today's level. In the international climatic cooperation the focus is on a broad
approach to the problem, emphasizing the implementation of emission-reducing
measures for all greenhouse gases and utilizing the impacts that forests have on
climate.
The anticipated man-made climatic changes may take place faster than nature
can adapt. This could result in extensive destruction and large changes in the
biological diversity on both the local and global scale. The increase in the
global mean temperature is expected to result in a rise in the sea level. This
will create difficulties for low-lying island nations and coastal regions.
Ground water and productive land may be destroyed. The causes of the increasing
concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere are principally the
combustion of fossil fuels. Also the loss of vegetation due to urbanization and
industrial growth contributes to the problem.
Chemicals hazardous to health and the environment may result in severe
damage to man, animals and plants. The most dangerous chemicals, the hazardous
substances, can cause long term damage even in small concentrations since they
are toxic and slowly decompose in nature or because they accumulate in plants,
animals and man. They can damage reproductive capacity, immune systems and the
nervous system and internal organs of man and animals, and promote the
development of diseases like cancer and allergies. A gradual polluting of the
earth, water and air and an accumulation of toxins in food chains represents a
serious threat to biological diversity, food supplies and the health of coming
generations. These chemicals can be transported long distances by air and water.
The problems are therefore largely of a global nature. Polar ecosystems are
especially at risk. For instance, disturbingly high concentrations of
polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) have been found in polar bears and seals in
arctic areas and in the mother's milk of Inuits.
The number of chemicals and the amounts of global discharges of hazardous
chemicals are both large, but unknown. In the European market about 100,000
chemicals have been registered. Only a small percentage of them have been
studied with regard to their hazard potential for health and environment. The
number and volume of products containing chemicals hazardous to health and
environment is steadily increasing. Increased consumption of products may lead
to the increased spread of hazardous chemicals. General and specific knowledge
of the health and environmental impacts of these chemicals is currently very
deficient.
The effects of reduced biological diversity, increased concentration of
greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, and the spread of chemicals hazardous to
health and the environment are presently the greatest threats to the viability
of life on Earth. Even though we have sufficient knowledge to establish that the
threats are genuine and that the first indications of damage have already been
observed, there remains much uncertainty regarding how the effects will impact
in practice and where on Earth the impacts may be most dramatic.
Air pollution and noise today represent significant problems for health and
well-being in many Norwegian towns and communities and cause considerable
outlays to society, for instance for sick leave and medical treatment. The main
source of these challenges is in the growing transport sector.
The increasing space taken over by roads in conjunction with greater
development pressure has resulted in reductions in areas available for food
production, a large reduction and break-up of green areas in towns and urban
areas, and loss of much of our cultural heritage in the form of archeological
remains and historical buildings. The green belts with different forms of green
areas, streams and water affect the local climate, reduce noise and dust, and
have an important positive effect on health and well-being, offering the chance
for daily exercise, play, etc. The conservation of historical monuments and
cultural environments is important for the preservation of irreplaceable
information and historical, cultural and esthetic values and for the development
of identity and a sense of belonging. By safeguarding a representative selection
of the country's cultural monuments the contemporary society and future
generations can form the fullest possible picture of the development of the
country's history, environment and know-how.
There is a close connection between global, national and more local
environmental challenges. Often problems at different levels will have their
source in the same type of activity. Moreover it will be the case that all
ecological challenges, including global challenges, derive from the aggregate of
local actions and can therefore be met only through coordinated local change.
For instance municipal land-use plans under the Planning and Building Act are a
key instrument in the national work to conserve biological diversity, and to
facilitate the development of cities and hamlets and traffic systems that both
reduce the local pollution and noise levels and the need for energy and area
intensive forms of transport. There exists a significant potential to improve
the quality of life and obtain a more sustainable development by facilitating
more eco-friendly local communities and the municipal authorities have an
important role to play here.
Whilst the international cooperation to counteract man-made climate change
and reductions in the biological diversity remain in their beginnings,
international agreements in other areas have produced measurable results. By
following up these agreements and through a long-term work to reduce national
and local environmental problems we have achieved considerable results in the
environmental policy in Norway.
The Montreal Protocol from 1987, which has been strenghtened on several
occasions since, contains firm goals for reduction and cessation of the
consumption and production of substances that deplete the ozone layer. The
concentration of such substances in the atmosphere must be expected to increase
in the next century but discharges have been heavily curtailed and the
concentration of ozone depleting substances has grown less rapidly in recent
years. Norway has fulfilled its obligations under the Montreal Protocol and in
some cases set stricter phase-out targets than demanded under the Protocol. The
Norwegian consumption of ozone-depleting chloro-fluoro-carbons (CFCs), halons,
carbon tetrachloride and methyl chloroform have all been reduced by 65-100 per
cent in the past decade.
Binding European cooperation has led to significant reductions in acid
discharges in recent years. With the new Sulphur Protocol of 1994 a significant
step was taken towards an improved ecological situation for the acid damaged
areas in Southern Norway. The precipitation of sulphur over Norway was reduced
by 35 per cent from 1988 to 1995. The Norwegian discharges of sulphur dioxide
(SO2) were reduced by 75 per cent from 1980 to 1995, for instance as the result
of maximum limits imposed on sulphur content of heating oil, and a sulphur tax.
With the exception of some industrial locations there are no excesses above the
National Pollution Control Authority's recommended limits for SO2 concentrations
in the air.
Through the North Sea Cooperation a significant reduction in point-source
discharges of chemicals hazardous to health and the environment has taken place.
The discharges of priority hazardous substances have fallen by 50-95 per cent
between 1985 and 1995 as the result of environmental measures in Norwegian
industry. The emissions of lead into the atmosphere have fallen steeply since
unleaded petrol and the tax on leaded petrol were introduced. From 1973 to 1995
the emissions of lead to the atmosphere were reduced by about 97 per cent. The
number of known carcinogens sold in Norway has been reduced from around 3500 in
1988 to about 530 in 1995.
Through the work on following up of the North Sea Declarations the addition
of phosphorous to the North Sea's "vulnerable areas" (the coastal
regions from the Swedish border to Lindesnes) has been reduced by 36 per cent
from 1985 to 1995. The cleansing capacity for phosphorus in municipal waste
water treatment plants has increased significantly throughout the country. In
1995 there were over 2000 registered cleansing plants for municipal waste water
from households and businesses with a total cleansing capacity of about 5.2
million person units. In agriculture the transition to working the soil in the
spring and decreased spreading of livestock manure outside the growth season has
strongly reduced the addition of phosphorus into streams, rivers, lakes and
fjords.
Increasing shares of the waste is recycled. The share of municipal waste
that is recycled increased from 8 per cent in 1992 to 15 per cent in 1995. The
recycled share for household waste increased from 9 per cent in 1992 to 20 per
cent in 1995. Municipalities with a well-developed recycling system have
achieved a 70-80 per cent recycling level for this waste. More than half the
total waste from industrial activity in 1994 was subject to materials recycling
or used for energy production.With the nature conservation plans that are
expected to be effective in the coming years, including the National Parks Plan,
the share of protected acreage in Mainland Norway will increase from about 6 per
cent today to about 13 per cent in 2010.
Norway is also one of the first countries in the world to pass a law that
regulates the production and use of genetically modified organisms to safeguard
the concerns of health, environment, and sustainable development.
Around 2800 historically valuable buildings, installations and sites from
1537 or later have been given preservation status under the Cultural Heritage
Act. All cultural monuments from before 1537 and all Sami monuments over 100
years of age are automatically protected. More than 1600 public recreational
areas are safeguarded by State involvement, most of them along the coast of
Southern Norway.
These positive results help build the hope that through targeted national
environmental policies and international cooperation it will be possible to
tackle the ecological challenges that now face man, nationally and globally.
Sustainable development is defined as development that meets the needs of
today's generations without compromising the opportunities for future
generations to meet their needs. Man's needs can broadly be split into basic
needs, that must be satisfied to ensure survival at a certain minimum level, and
socio-cultural (secondary) needs that can be developed in many directions.
The definition of "sustainable development" is not limited to the
lasting satisfaction of man's basic needs. But in a situation where much of the
world's population is living at or near the minimum for existence, at the same
time as the effects of man's aggregate production and consumption are already
threatening the natural base, a global policy for sustainable development must
give first priority to satisfying the basic needs of today and tomorrow. To the
extent that technological change proves inadequate to bring the total strain on
the natural base within defensible limits it will follow that new, ecological
constraints must in the first place put limits on the rich world's opportunities
to satisfy their more secondary needs.
Hence, sustainable development does not just mean a development that takes
future generations into consideration. It will also require a more even
distribution of the world's "ecological space" among peoples and
countries at present.
A person's, country's or generation's ability to meet its needs depends on
the world's total supply of resources, the "global assets", and on how
the resources are distributed. The supply of resources consists of real capital,
"human" capital (including know-how), natural resources and ecological
resources. Some of the ecological resources are global common resources. For
example, people share the ozone layer's capacity to protect living organisms
from ultraviolet rays, and the atmosphere's capacity to take up carbon dioxide
and other greenhouse gases. Other ecological resources are part of the country's
"national assets", such as the air's capacity to take up particles and
other pollution from local sources. The discharge of carbon dioxide, CFCs or
soot particles means reducing the ecological resources that are part of the
global and national assets.
Over time the global and national composition of the assets will change.
Non-renewable natural resources are used up, and this can happen without
reducing the global and national assets if other resources are built up that
provide at least the same basis for future living standards. Conditionally
renewable resources, such as biological resources, must be managed so as to
devolve on coming generations in good condition.
Ecological resources comprise for a large part elements in man's life basis
and welfare that cannot be compensated by an increase in other resources. The
goal of sustainable development therefore particularly demands proper management
of the ecosystems and ecological cycles that we share with those here with us
and those coming after us, nationally and globally. In some cases damage to the
environment will prove irreversible only after it occurs. Reductions in
biological diversity are a current example of this. When a species or ecosystem
disappears, man cannot reconstruct what has gone. It is important in this
connection to realize that coming generations may place great store on elements
in the diversity that today are either not known or not exploitable.
Faced with the risk of serious and irreversible damage to the ecological
resources, the Government will follow two key principles in establishing its
environmental goals:
- We must not exceed the levels of critical loads on ecosystems (nature's
carrying capacity). The goals thus must be set so that ecologically damaging
discharges or impacts do not exceed the levels where strain on the environment
means damage to sensitive parts of ecosystems.
- We have to act in a precautionary way. The interrelationships of the
natural environment and the economy are so complex that in practice we cannot
have full knowledge of all effects. For instance very extensive knowledge is
needed to determine what levels represent a critical strain on an ecosystem. The
precautionary principle means that if there is a risk of serious or
irreversible damage then lack of full scientific evidence cannot be wielded as
an argument to justify an encroachment on nature or defer an environmental
policy measure. Potential harmful effects must be given due consideration when
setting goals.
The Government will rely on the following principle stance in administering
the various categories of ecological resources within a policy for sustainable
development:
Environmental quality necessary to safeguard the life basis for man
Ecosystems make up the basis for life for mankind. Man's existence depends
on sufficient availability of clean soil, clean water, clean air and biological
diversity. The quality of the environment necessary to safeguard man's life
basis must be secured so that it is sustained in the short term and long term.
The use of energy, water, air and soil must be done in ways that do not disrupt
the ecosystems by the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere or
hazardous substances in the food chain, or by the generation of more waste
products than can be reassimilated into natural cycles. When using resources and
areas, consideration must be given to the notion that a robust biological
diversity is a predeterminant for all life on Earth and is necessary to ensure
an adequate supply of resources for biological production.
Management of these environmental resources must build on the precautionary
principle and be based on respect for nature's carrying capacity. Environmental
protection goals should be set that are incorporated into the frameworks for
social planning and the economic activity. The ecological challenges that
threaten the life basis are often by nature cross-border phenomena, and the
goals for environmental quality or reduced strain on the environment should be
established by binding international agreements. These agreements must regulate
the obligations that each country undertakes. The agreements may imply an
unequal distribution of the burdens between countries, for instance based on
responsibility for ecological strain, economic power, and level of environmental
measures already introduced. The cost effectiveness across national boundaries
can be secured, for instance, by including provisions on common implementation.
The lack of satisfactory international agreements should not serve as a
generally valid justification for individual countries to avoid implementing
national measures.
Examples of important global ecological problems that with today's knowledge
represent a threat to the very basis of life are the reduction in the biological
diversity, the increased concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere,
the accumulation of POPs in the environment, and the depletion of the ozone
layer. In parts of the world the breakdown in supplies of clean water is the
greatest direct threat to the life basis for the population.
Other types of environmental quality that may be irrevocably lost
Other types of environmental quality are not necessary for mankind, a
population or an individual to survive at a reasonable standard of material
well-being, but are nonetheless key elements in human welfare. Their
deterioration may be irreversible. Future generations will have fewer options if
these resources are diminished or destroyed. Examples of such environmental
qualities are cultural monuments, cultural landscapes, and access to reasonably
undisturbed nature in close vicinity to the community. If cultural monuments
disappear or natural areas are encroached permanently, then future generations
will forfeit the opportunity to enjoy these resources. It is necessary to see
the connection between the natural and the man-made elements in man's
surroundings. Cultural monuments represent a unique source of understanding so
as to see how man influenced his or her natural environment over the ages.
In the management of such environmental qualities we cannot base our actions
on the "tolerance limits" of the ecosystems or ecological cycles to
human intervention. In such cases the future value of these resources must be
evaluated against the costs to the society of preserving them. The requirement
of a sustainable development implies that the future value of these
environmental qualities will be very important when their preservation comes in
conflict with other concerns.
Other environmental qualities that affect welfare
Some types of environmental quality are important for man's welfare today
and in the future at the same time as some reductions in environmental quality
are reversible within a reasonable time span. Examples are noise and various
types of pollution that do not accumulate on a permanent basis in the eco-cycle.
Experience has shown, for example, that the water quality in watercourses can be
improved when seepage of nutritional salts is reduced. The local air quality can
be improved and health risks are lowered if airborne particulate matter is
reduced. In such situations cost-benefit considerations will provide guidelines
for the management of the resources, i.e. the cost of reduced ecological quality
can be compared with the economic benefit to society of the activity causing the
ecological damage. In this context it is important to emphasize the
environmental benefits of various measures, not least when they will be for the
good of future generations.
This categorization of environmental resources or environmental qualities is
a theoretical one and the distinctions between the categories may be less clear
cut. The type and severity of various forms of ecological challenges can change
in time. For instance moderate water pollution may determine whether a water
resource has potable or bathing quality, whilst further deterioration of the
situation may mean that the life cycles and life supporting ecological processes
in the recipient break down. New knowledge can also affect the evaluation of the
severity of the various ecological challenges. This presentation shows
nonetheless the principles that will guide the Government in determining its
level of aspiration and the goals for the different categories, which each
embrace a number of key challenges to environmental policy.
The character of ecological problems has altered significantly during this
century. From mainly being connected with large point-source emissions and
singular interventions with visible local impacts, they now derive from many
sources and often know no national boundaries. In many fields man is in the
process of exceeding, or has already exceeded, the limits that nature sets. As
will be seen in Part II of this Report to the Storting, considerable results
have been achieved in areas where the environmental protection authorities have
effective measures in their hands and where the causalities are transparent.
What is common for the key challenges now facing us is that they are often the
result of many small discharges or interventions resulting from activities in
several sectors, and that they are connected with the general pattern of
consumption and production, and with developments on an international as well as
local scale. The direction in which society develops is determined by many
forces such as population growth, consumption growth, and technological change.
This means new requirements for priorities and forceful action in environmental
protection work.
In the work to further develop the environmental policy the Government will
therefore emphasize the following in particular:
- Development of frameworks that stimulate more sustainable production and
consumption patterns and development of the necessary tools with which to
control social development in a sustainable direction and safeguard the
goal-oriented and maximally cost-effective environmental protection efforts
across the various sectors.
- Take the initiative in working for international agreements and other
international cooperation to solve global and regional ecological challenges.
- Work to protect biological diversity, reduce the spread of chemicals
hazardous to health and the environment, reduce the emissions of greenhouse
gases and facilitate the follow-up of the Local Agenda 21 in municipalities that
will foster improved quality of life and sustainable development.
- Invite business and industry and the consumers to take part in the work for
sustainable development.
As an element in the work to convert to a more sustainable production and
consumption pattern, the Government will hold that further development of
welfare must be taken in the form of benefits that foster better quality of life
within the frameworks of sustainable development. The Government will therefore
give great priority to the development of frameworks that stimulate eco-friendly
adaptations by industry and consumers.
The Government will establish the Norwegian Government Environmental Fund in
order to beef up the support of environmental technology and improve the
environmental and resource efficiency of the Norwegian society. Big holistic
projects that give rise to increased environmental and resource efficiency in
many areas and projects concerning the climate will be given special priority
among the fund's activities. To begin with the Government will propose that NOK
500 million be set aside for this fund.
The Government will refine the tax and duties system so that it promotes
sustainable development. The Government will also establish a committee to
identify and propose changes in legislation that may inadvertently impede or
provide inadequate incentive to sustainable development. The Government will
also make sure that environmental concerns are integrated into public-sector
administrative activities. An environmentally-oriented government purchasing
policy will be especially important in this respect. A pilot project, "Green
government", will be carried out in order to gain experience in how
environmental concerns can best be integrated into government activities.
The municipal authorities will play a key role in the development of the
proper framework conditions, for instance through their responsibilities under
the planning and building legislation. Environmental conditions where people
spend their days are of great significance for health and well-being, and for
the development of eco-friendly or eco-harmful habits and consumer patterns. The
Government therefore sets great store by facilitating the desired development
within municipal councils, for instance by clarifying goals and concerns that
the councils should observe in the follow-up of Local Agenda 21 as part of their
municipal plans.
The Government will clarify the sectors' responsibility for achieving
environmental policy goals through sectoral environmental action plans based on
the principles of management by objectives and cost effectiveness. In some areas
it will be appropriate to include sectoral performance objectives in these
action plans. The Government will further develop a national result monitoring
system for implemented environmental measures, environmental impacts, and the
state of the environment. This will provide the necessary basis for being able
to control development in a sustainable direction, for instance by making it
possible to see the aggregate environmental impact of the activity within
various sectors in an overall context. Furthermore, it will provide a basis for
a goal-oriented and cost-effective environmental policy across the sectors, and
ensure that environmental concerns are integrated in sector policies in line
with the principle of sectoral environmental responsibility. The results will be
published on an annual basis as the "Environmental Profile of The
Government and The Environmental State of The Nation". The result
monitoring system will be further developed and concretely defined in
cooperation between the affected ministries and the municipal sector.
The complexity of today's environmental challenges means it is essential to
make a commitment to knowledge and information as the basis for a holistic
approach to the challenges and as a step in the creation of a common
understanding of the nature of the challenges and the need for environmental
policy instruments. The Government will continue to give priority to research on
environmental protection and help facilitate a more effective dissemination and
use of the research results. The Government will also emphasize the facilitation
of improved information to help business and industry and consumers make
environmentally sound choices.
The most serious ecological challenges today are of a global or regional
character and can only be solved through international cooperation. The
Government therefore strives to continue its role as a driving force for
international environmental cooperation. Cooperation with the EU through the EEA
agreement is especially important. As an element in this international
cooperation, priority will be given to strengthening the developing countries'
ability and determination to take responsibility for their own contribution to
the global environmental problems and to solve their own ecological problems, by
increasing environment-oriented aid. Moreover great priority will be given to
reducing ecological problems and the nuclear threat in the north.
The Government will place high priority on the work of conserving biological
diversity by focusing on the causes of loss of diversity, by ensuring
sustainable use of biological diversity and by protecting threatened diversity.
The close connection between the preservation of biological diversity and
land-use management means that the municipalities and area-intensive sectors
must play a key role in the further work in this field. In order to improve the
decision base the Government will implement a five-year central
government/municipal government development program that will include a survey
and a value classification of the biological diversity and the establishment of
a national monitoring program. As far as possible the sectors and municipalities
must avoid making further encroachments upon the remaining continuous,
undisturbed natural areas and other valuable types of nature as indicated in the
Report. For instance emphasis will be given to defining in concrete terms the
national environmental targets and priorities for the municipalities as the
basis for the municipal planning work, and to ensure the expedient reporting
from the municipal to central Government level. The development of central
Government guidelines for biological diversity will be evaluated. It will also
be evaluated whether certain changes should be made in the Nature Protection Act
in order to strengthen and clarify the legal basis for central measures in the
effort to preserve biological diversity. The Government will assist actively in
the further development and operationalizing of the Convention for Biological
Diversity.
The Government intends that Norway will play an important role in the
international work to reduce and phase out discharges of chemicals that are
hazardous to health and the environment. The Report indicates new national
targets that will form the basis for securing the proper protection level, and
sets out criteria that will form the basis for priority of which substances to
target with measures. The Government intends that, based on these criteria,
lists will be formulated of the most dangerous substances. Nationally high
priority will be given to the work of reducing discharges via products and
developing measures adapted to international regulation in the chemicals area.
The considerable number of chemicals that exist on the market in different
products means that it is important to arrange matters so that business and
industry and consumers can participate and play a responsible role. The
Government will therefore propose a statutory substitution obligation in the
Product Control Act, which will mean an obligation for business and industry to
replace hazardous chemicals with less hazardous chemicals when this is
technically and economically feasible. It will also be evaluated whether taxes
should be imposed on particular products that are hazardous to health and the
environment. The systems of environmental and health hazard labeling of products
will be further developed. The aim is to improve consumers' opportunities to get
the proper information about products' environmental properties, for instance by
considering changes in the Marketing Act.
The emissions of greenhouse gases must be reduced as a step in international
cooperation and the future national targets for emissions and assimilation of
greenhouse gases will be further clarified on the basis of the results of the
ongoing negotiations for a new Climate Convention. The Government is pursuing
the gradual strengthening and effectivization of the use of measures to limit
discharges of various greenhouse gases in line with the international
obligations. Based on the close connection between energy use and discharge of
greenhouse gases there is a priority to make a commitment to energy efficiency
and new, renewable sources of energy. The Government aims to curb growth of
energy consumption in Norway and the work to foster socially profitable
efficiency measures will be strengthened. A further goal is with the aid of
renewable energy sources in a normal year to produce electricity equivalent to
the Norwegian consumption of electricity. A key element here is to reduce the
use of electricity for heating purposes where other energy sources can take its
place, such as bioenergy and heat exchangers. The Government's aim is to
increase the use of bioenergy and water-borne heat by about 5 TWh from today's
level in the next 5-10 years. The task of promoting the development of
climate-friendly technology will be continued and intensified. In connection
with the follow-up of the Green Tax Commission, the Government will evaluate the
structure and the level of the CO2 taxes and evaluate whether a tax should be
introduced on waste treatment in order to reduce the methane emissions from
waste deposits. Furthermore, the taxes on electricity and petroleum products
will be evaluated more closely. The Government will evaluate whether to enter
into agreements with certain sectors of the process industries in order to
reduce emissions of greenhouse gases for emissions that are not covered by the
CO2 tax. The first agreement of this sort, which pertains to emissions from the
aluminum industry is expected to be signed in June 1997.
The municipalities have a key role in the work of fostering sustainable
development through working on the follow-up to Local Agenda 21. The Government
finds that the municipalities' follow-up of Local Agenda 21 should be a part of
the work of municipal planning. The Report to the Storting indicates overall
goals and considerations on which the municipalities are requested to base their
planning work, as a step in the work to solve global and national ecological
challenges and foster improved quality of life for the population. The national
policy in the work to preserve the cultural heritage and cultural environments,
facilitate outdoor pursuits, reduce local air pollution and noise, and secure
good quality in water environments, is espoused as a part of this. Emphasis is
given to the municipalities' role in and opportunities to help follow up the
national goals in the various areas. In addition an account is given of measures
and steps that the Government will consider implementing in order to support a
desirable development locally. In order to keep track of trends in key areas the
intention is to further develop a result monitoring system for the
municipalities as an element in the national result monitoring system.
Sustainable development will require efforts by everyone. In the Report to
the Storting the Government provides a survey of the key environmental
challenges that business and industry and consumers are facing and urges action.
The need for public environmental protection regulations will depend in part on
the extent to which business and industry seek to be ahead of development in
this area, on its own initiative and on the basis of long-term self-interest.
This page was last updated August 21 1997 by the editors
