Article from the webmagasine "Green Growth the Nordic Way" - see more on the Nordic green growth initiative

A holistic approach to green growth

The mission was to identify areas where a coordinated Nordic approach to green growth would have an added value, both in the short term and from a more strategic long-term perspective. The work took its outset in a report by consulting firm McKinsey and in the OECD definition of green growth.

“We decided to focus on the macro effects of greening the economy, rather than concentrating on specific sectors like renewable energy and cleantech”, says Øyvind Lone, senior advisor in the Norwegian Ministry of Environment and Norway’s representative on the task force. “Our approach aims at a general increase in employment and an overall improvement for the environment”.

This aligns well with the Nordic environmental tradition, as the countries have previously been able to green their economies considerably, while maintaining a high level of employment and economic growth.

Recommendations for the Nordic model

According to Lone, the Nordic social model is characterised by efficient public administration and close cooperation between business, labour and government.

“We have a strong public sector, but also a very strong market”, he says.

To accommodate the Nordic particularities, the task force looked towards economic instruments and government interventions that would motivate green growth in the region.

“We wanted to cover the whole range of policy areas relevant to this – education, research, energy and transport – and even some new development areas in the Nordic cooperation”, Lone explains.

Groundbreaking environmental technologies needed

Creating optimal conditions for development, production and commercialisation of innovative green technology is highly prioritised. To this end, the task force pointed in particular at closer cooperation on research and education, the establishment of Nordic test centres for green solutions, and coordinated technical standards and norms across the region.

“By combining ambitious environmental policies and cooperation on technology development, we become a major force and a major market. Coordinated technical standards and norms would make it much easier for Nordic companies to operate in all five countries and then export their technologies to Europe and the rest of the world”, Lone says.

Varied output of Nordic environmental efforts

“One of the best examples of Nordic cooperation that has direct practical impact is our common electricity market”, says Lone, referring to the recommendation of promoting flexible consumption of electricity.

He also mentions coordination of the region’s position in relation to international environmental negotiations and the Nordic environmental label, the Swan, as valuable output from Nordic cooperation. The fact that waste processing is included in the priority areas chosen reflects the region’s high ambitions in the environmental and green technology fields.

“Waste streams from households and industry should not only be regarded as an environmental problem, but also as a resource that makes part of a circular economy. The Nordics are among the pioneers in reducing physical materials and waste streams from major industries and in developing technologies that transform waste into valuable products”, Lone states.

Nordic influence at home and abroad

The task force suggests that the Nordic countries stimulate development and use of green technologies through public procurement at home, and take steps to integrate environmental incentives even more in Nordic development aid abroad.
“Green public procurement is one of the most effective ways to bridge the gap between innovation and actual deployment and commercialisation of new technologies”, Lone says.

“By specifying environmental goals and standards in public contracts and purchasing, you can build up a large enough market to bring the innovation to full-scale commercialisation”.

Leading from the front while remaining competitive

The major challenge for the Nordics right now is to show the courage to lead the way, without compromising their competitiveness. This requires ambitious goals for public and private green investment in the coming years.

“Ideally, climate change and global warming should be dealt with through a global effort. As everybody knows, this has turned out to be extremely complicated. Regional cooperation at the Nordic and European levels allows us to take the steps necessary to start the process while we are all waiting for the big international climate breakthrough”, Lone says.

“There are a number of great challenges remaining on environmental issues, climate change and biodiversity. I therefore hope that the eight areas in the Nordic Council of Ministers green growth initiative will receive significant funding, much like the top-level research initiative back in 2008”, Øyvind Lone concludes.

Read more about the eight priorities in the coming editions of Green growth – the Nordic way.