The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and Norway's Prime Minister, Jonas Gahr Støre met in Brussels last week and signed the agreement that renew their commitment to respect 2030 targets in line with the “Fit for 55” package which is EU’s plans to reduce greenhouse gas emission by at least 55% compared to 1990, and to achieving climate neutrality at the latest by 2050. This is only the second agreement of its kind, following the EU-Japan Green Alliance signed in 2021. 

The Eu and Norway goal is to keep global temperature rise within the 1.5C limit under the Paris Agreement while ensuring energy security, environmental protection and human rights. 

President 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.”

The EU and Norway also agree to jointly promote ambitious climate action on the global stage. To this end, the two parties, as leading major donors of climate finance, will cooperate to support developing countries and emerging economies in the process of implementation of their climate and environment policies. To help keep global temperature rise within the 1.5C limit, the agreement confirms that full respect for the precautionary principle is paramount in the Arctic region.

The eight priority areas of the Green Alliance

Edited under the vigilant eye of Executive Vice-President for the European Green Deal Frans Timmermans, the Green Alliance agreement will focus on the following priority areas:

• strengthening efforts to combat climate change including cooperation on climate adaptation, carbon pricing, carbon removals, and carbon capture, transport, utilisation and storage;
• supporting the green industrial transition and further enhancing political and industrial cooperation through strategic partnerships, such as a future Strategic Partnership on Sustainable Raw Materials and Batteries Value Chains;
• 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;
• decarbonising the transport sector across all modes of transport, with special regard to zero GHG emission and zero pollution shipping;
• increasing regulatory and business cooperation to set global standards for the innovative environmental solutions required to accelerate the transition to circular and net-zero economies;
• accelerating the clean energy transition with a focus on hydrogen and offshore renewable energy;
• consolidating existing collaboration on research, education, and innovation in the areas of decarbonisation, renewable energy, and bioeconomy;
• working together to promote sustainable finance and investments to set Europe on a pathway to an environmentally sustainable, climate-neutral and climate resilient economy.