EU-Norway Energy Relations towards 2050: From Fossil Fuels to Low-Carbon Opporunities
In C. Dupont and S. Oberthür, Decarbonization in the European Union: Internal Policies and External Strategies. Hampshire (UK), Palgrave Macmillan, 2015, pp. 222-243.
In C. Dupont and S. Oberthür, Decarbonization in the European Union: Internal Policies and External Strategies. Hampshire (UK), Palgrave Macmillan, 2015, pp. 222-243.
The key EU challenge involved in engaging Norway in decarbonisation lies more in the country’s fossil-fuel interests than in how external energy relations are managed by the EU. The transformative effect of oil and gas has been significant in the Norwegian economy. Essentially, Norway today is locked in a fossil regime where resources, knowledge, policy, technology, organisations and business are directed towards the exploration, production, distribution and consumption of fossil energy. The key challenge is to transform this fossil energy regime into a regime based on low-carbon energy and solutions. Against this backdrop, the chapter explores three scenarios based on EU and international climate policies that to varying degrees may challenge the Norwegian fossil-fuel regime and offer new low-carbon opportunities.