In December 2019, the European Commission presented the European Green Deal, which has since been operationalized in detail and in July 2021 followed by a set of proposals jointly known as the FitFor55 package. The European Green Deal is not only a new chapter in the EU’s efforts to maintain a leading global role in climate action – it is the most comprehensive sustainability strategy the Union has ever created, cutting across issue areas and coupling sectors that were previously not held against environmental and climate benchmarks.
However, the COVID pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine which sparked a chain of crises in different areas, demonstrate how difficult the implementation of such an ambitious strategy will be. Consequently, questions about Europe’s “strategic autonomy”, once discussed in the security sector, are now also posed in the context of the green transition.
Norway’s place in ambitious endeavor is important but also unclear. The day before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Norwegian Prime Minister and the head of the European Commission announced the EU-Norway Green Alliance initiative. A partnership with Norway is also mentioned in the recent communication on EU’s external energy engagement.
To what extent Norway is an important element of the Commission’s vision of transition under the EGD, in which sectors beyond oil and gas are Norway’s contributions expected and welcome, and what obstacles to this partnership exist due to its non-member status – these are some of the themes we would like to discuss at this webinar.
The event is organized under the research project Norway-EU by 2030 and NUPI Climate and Enegery Seminar Series.
