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Global test bed for greenhouse gas solutions?

Does the Nordic Region have the potential to show the world how to reduce energy consumption and emissions of greenhouse gases? The Nordic Council Environment Committee thinks so, and wants to turn the Region into a test bed for solutions to the climate problem. "The global climate negotiations have become bogged down, so we need to show the way forward and come up with new solutions," says a range of politicians gathered in Copenhagen, 1-3 November.

Nov 01, 2011

The Nordic Council is calling on the Council of Ministers study the options for a partnership that shows the other countries in the United Nations even more clearly how far we can actually reduce emissions.

Photographer: Nikolaj Bock

The Nordic Council Environment Committee is proposing a feasibility study for a Nordic "climate bubble" in which the Nordic countries, along with other interested nations, would document ways to reduce climate emissions without any negative impact on society and the economy.

"The Nordic countries can and should take the lead in global climate negotiations. We are asking the Council of Ministers to study the options for a partnership that shows the other countries in the United Nations even more clearly how far we can actually reduce emissions," says Jan Lindholm MP, a member of the Swedish Green Party and of the Nordic Council Environment Committee.

The Committee is also seeking a statement from the Nordic governments about how to speed up the reduction of emissions of the so-called short-lived climate agents, e.g. soot and non-CO2-related gases, which have a particularly negative impact on the Arctic.

"We will also ask the Council of Ministers to identify what specific further action we can take to reduce emissions of short-lived climate agents such as soot," Lindholm explains.

The Committee would also like to see an action plan for work on short-lived climate agents, including the promotion of a campaign against them in the non-industrialised world.

The Nordic Council is also calling on the Council of Ministers to clarify which political instruments have been the most effective in reducing emissions of greenhouse gases in the Region and, in particular, clarify the prerequisites for a closer partnership on a so-called "climate bubble" by countries capable of taking a lead and showing the way in the United Nations.