Norwegian Minister of Environment and International Development Erik Solheim has reaffirmed that “there must be fresh money on the table at Copenhagen for technology transfer and adaptation schemes”.

Solheim was addressing South African journalists visiting Norway, and discussed the highly anticipated international climate change negotiations, which were set to take place in Copenhagen in December.

The Minister emphasised that developed nations, in particular the US, Europe and Japan, must agree to make greenhouse gas (GHG) emission cuts, while emerging nations such as South Africa, India, China and Brazil had a responsibility to ensure that rapid economic growth must be decoupled from GHG emissions.

Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs Jonas Gahr Støre also said that emerging economies had obligations to take on at Copenhagen, and added that if an agreement was to have any meaning, it must be global in scope. He further added that differentiated formulae should be established for different countries because “complete opt outs” or countries refusing to take on any GHG emission reduction targets, was “a bad idea”.

Solheim stated that the biggest problem was that many commitments were made under previous arrangements, but were not entertained, and emphasised that no developing country could forge ahead with adaptation plans without funds.

He indicated that these funds could partly be raised through the carbon market. For example, some have suggested that if developed countries worked within a carbon budget, whereby they could only legally emit a certain amount of GHG through the purchase of a carbon permit. This opened the option for auctioning of carbon permits, and the money raised through such an endeavour could be put towards adaptation work in developing countries.

“Norway is not breaking promises,” Solheim confirmed.

He also noted that Norway and Sweden already contributed 1% of their respective country’s gross domestic product to developing countries, through various schemes. He added that, per capita, Norway was also the largest contributor to United Nations efforts, and third largest contributor in absolute terms, after the US and the UK.

Solheim stated that South Africa, along with other emerging nations, was a key partner for Norway in the fight against climate change. Technology transfer was an important element of this, and the two countries were collaborating on the advancement of technologies such as carbon capture and storage (CCS). Solheim hoped that this collaboration could be extended to other renewable energy technologies such as wind and solar, and particularly hydro power, which was where Norwegian companies had particular expertise.

Norway is regarded as one of the most advanced nations with regard to research into CCS, and there are two offshore gas production facilities, which are currently capturing and storing compressed carbon dioxide - namely Sleipner, in the North sea, which has been doing this for 12 years, and, more recently, Snøhvit, in the Barents sea, since 2008.

Petroleum and energy deputy Minister Robin Kass said that “the whole point” of the research into CCS was to deploy it in developing countries. He added that it would be “meaningless to keep the technology a secret in Norway”, particularly since most of the country’s electricity needs were supplied through hydro-power.

A Norwegian delegation, including the King and Queen of Norway, as well as various Ministers and business people, would visit South Africa in November. Kass said that the ministry was proud of its close relationship with South Africa, and was looking forward to the visit.

Støre explained that Norway has committed to a 40% reduction, below 1990 levels, of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions by 2020, and had ambitions of being carbon neutral by 2030. The country was also said to be launching a pilot programme with Brazil and Thailand concerned with reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation.