The EU and Norway have established a Green Alliance to strengthen their joint climate action, environmental protection efforts and cooperation on clean energy.
The agreement was signed in Brussels by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and Norway’s Prime Minister, Jonas Gahr Støre.
Von der Leyen said: “Norway is a long-standing and reliable partner to the EU and we share a common vision for building a climate-neutral continent.
“We want our societies and economies to prosper together while reducing emissions, protecting nature, decarbonising our energy systems, and greening our industries.
“This Green Alliance makes our bond even stronger and allows us to design a better future together.”
Both sides reiterate their commitment to their respective 2030 targets of at least 55% greenhouse gas emission reductions compared to 1990, and to achieving climate neutrality at the latest by 2050.
They aim to keep global temperature rise within the 1.5C limit under the Paris Agreement while ensuring energy security, environmental protection and human rights.
The EU and Norway will work closely together to ensure the successful implementation of the Paris Agreement and the historic biodiversity agreement reached at the UN Biodiversity conference COP15.
The EU-Norway Green Alliance, prepared and negotiated under the auspices of Executive Vice-President for the European Green Deal Frans Timmermans, will focus on several priority areas.
They include accelerating the clean energy transition with a focus on hydrogen and offshore renewable energy, strengthening efforts to combat climate change including cooperation on climate adaptation, carbon pricing, carbon removals, and carbon capture, transport, utilisation and storage and increasing cooperation on environmental issues with a focus on halting and reversing biodiversity loss, forest degradation and deforestation, promoting circular economy and addressing the full life cycle of plastics, the development of global standards for the management of chemicals and waste and sustainable ocean management.
A Green Alliance is the most comprehensive form of bilateral engagement established under the European Green Deal, with both parties committing to climate neutrality and to aligning their domestic and international climate policies to pursue this goal.
This is only the second agreement of its kind, following the EU-Japan Green Alliance signed in 2021.