Norwegian Environment Minister Helen Bjoernoy found herself on the defensive on Wednesday after she pledged ambitious cuts in Norway's emissions of greenhouse gasses without consulting her government colleagues. Bjoernoy, from the Socialist Left party, said Norway should cut carbon dioxide gasses by at least 20 percent by 2020 to match a target set by the European Commission this month.

Local newspapers said Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg gave Bjoernoy "an unusually strong reprimand" and said that the government would for now not set a new carbon emissions target. The row highlights the delicate balance within the red-green coalition government led by Stoltenberg's Labour Party and pits the nation's economic interests in exploiting oil and gas against growing environmental concerns over global warming.

"The government has not yet decided any specific emissions targets," Finance Minister Kristin Halvorsen said, confirming that Bjoernoy's promise was not cleared by fellow ministers. "The entire cabinet wants Norway to be a good example of what people can do for the environment," said Halvorsen who is leader of the Socialist Left party.

Nevertheless, Norway is already behind its much less ambitious Kyoto emissions targets largely because of growing energy needs of its offshore oil and gas industry -- the lifeblood of its US$300 billion-plus annual economy. On Wednesday parliament questioned Bjoernoy, and opposition parties sought to gain political mileage by exploiting the internal cabinet spat.

Environmental groups have also scolded Bjoernoy in past months for failing to halt drilling in the Barents Sea, which they say could seriously damage its pristine Arctic ecology. They also disapproved of government plans to back the construction of new gas-fired power plants, years before technology needed to capture its carbon dioxide emissions and bury them underground was ready.

This deal, senior government officials have said, nearly broke apart the 16-month-old coalition led by Stoltenberg's moderate Labour Party. Trying to win back her green supporters, Bjoernoy had "guaranteed" that the government would propose CO2 targets that were at least as strict as those proposed by the EU and that she personally felt that environmentalist demands of a 30 percent cut from 1990 levels was a good starting point for discussions.
(Por Wojciech Moskwa, Planet Ark, 01/02/2007)