Reykjavík Grapevine - 05.02.2010, Page 6

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The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 02 — 2010
Welcome to Iceland
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www.ja.is
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WHO? WHERE?
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Quick guide to the information
you need while enjoying your stay
In December, Iceland joined over 190
nations for the United Nations Climate
Change Conference in Copenhagen.
The two-week summit, blasted a failure
by many, returned environmental issues
to the international spotlight, but ended
without a binding agreement on global
greenhouse gas emission reductions.
Minister for the Environment, Svandís
Svavarsdóttir, spoke to Zoë Robert
about her ref lections on the conference
and aspirations for Iceland to lead the
way in combating climate change.
During the recent UN Climate
Change Conference in Copenhagen
you reaffirmed Iceland’s goal of lead-
ing the way in combating climate
change. Other Nordic countries have
also announced plans to show leader-
ship. How could Iceland achieve such
a goal?
Iceland has expertise in many areas
of climate-friendly technology and
practices which we can highlight and
export. We have had a very success-
ful program in training experts from
developing countries in harnessing
geothermal energy for some years
and have just started a similar pro-
gramme for re-vegetation of eroded
land, which is relevant for climate,
as trees and other plants take up CO2
from the atmosphere. We use renew-
able energy for electricity and heat-
ing, and if we make positive efforts in
sectors where we lag behind, like in
transport, I think we can be seen as
a leading country in efforts to combat
climate change.
The public transport system in Reyk-
javik is still considered unattractive
by many, there are no public recycling
bins in the city, few bicycle paths and
particle pollution in the capital regu-
larly exceeds the maximum accepted
level at certain times of the year.
Considering this, would it not be fair
to say that Iceland is still behind in
many ways?
Certainly, there are a great number of
areas where Iceland can and should
do better when it comes to environ-
mental issues. These are things the
government—both national and lo-
cal—is aware of, and hopes to change
in the near future. The Ministry for
the Environment is currently work-
ing on an action plan to combat cli-
mate change, where emphasis will be
put on greener options for transport
and constructing taxes and fees so as
to favour climate-friendly cars and
fuels. In addition to the issues you
mention, I would like to add that the
draft action plan recommends mea-
sures to decrease the emission from
Iceland’s fishing f leet.
What are Iceland’s emission reduc-
tion targets and how do these targets
compare to those of the EU?
Iceland announced a target for 2020
in Copenhagen that is the same as
that of the European Union. We take
up much of the EU climate regula-
tions through the Agreement on the
European Economic Area, and are in
fact part of a common European car-
bon market. We have therefore seen
it as sensible to be part of a common
European effort within a new global
agreement.
I think this will provide Icelandic
companies with more certainty about
the future and a competitive operat-
ing environment, and will enable the
government to run a more efficient
policy combating climate change.
Overall, Iceland's emission reduction
targets equate to a general increase
in emissions. How do you respond to
claims that Iceland could potentially
have the highest per capita emissions
increase?
There has been an increase in emis-
sions in recent years mainly because
of the expansion of heavy industry,
mostly aluminium. Those emissions
are now about 40% of our total emis-
sions. It is no secret that I would
prefer that we would use our clean
energy in the future for other pur-
poses like, say, powering data cen-
tres or providing energy for our cars
and ships when new climate-friendly
technologies in those fields become
competitive. This is not only for en-
vironmental reasons, but I think it is
unwise economically to put all eggs
in one basket, and aluminium has
become very dominant in our export
profile.
In the near future, emissions
from heavy industry will be part of
a pan-European emissions trading
system that will be regulated by the
EU. If we succeed in curbing emis-
sions from transport, I think that
the emissions attributed to Icelandic
households can be one of the lowest
per capita in the developed world.
How could Iceland achieve the pro-
posed reduction target?
In our draft action plan, we have fo-
cused on three main areas, which
have been identified as the most
likely to succeed and the most cost-
effective. These are the transport sec-
tor, the fishing industry and issues
regarding land use. The third point
is where wetlands come in. Recent
studies have shown that the draining
of wetlands releases large amounts of
carbon. Reversing this by restoring
the wetlands may result in carbon
sequestration in the long term. As an
added benefit, the restoration of wet-
lands would be a boost to biodiversity,
as many species of animals suffered
the effects of wetland-dredging—
sometimes undertaken overzealously
during the middle of the last century.
How will emission reductions be
made in the transport sector? Can
you tell me about the proposed meth-
ane plant in Reykjanes?
The plans to produce methanol from
geothermal gases in Reykjanes is one
of a number of exciting research and
development projects in the climate
and energy sector in Iceland. Others
include a project to sequester CO2 in
basaltic rock at Hellisheiði, hydrogen
projects, deep drilling to enhance
geothermal energy and an IT-based
system to cut emissions from ships.
We should not forget that the drive to
reduce emissions and change our en-
ergy system carries a lot of opportu-
nities for innovators and companies,
not only economic burdens.
Aluminium smelters in Iceland
presumably have a competitive ad-
vantage under an emission trading
scheme (ETS) due to their reliance on
renewable energy as they will pay less
for carbon emissions. Could you com-
ment on this advantage?
Carbon-free energy will obviously
have a competitive advantage over
fossil fuel energy under the ETS and
any system that puts a price on car-
bon. This is irrespective of who buys
that energy. Icelandic aluminium
smelters will face the same regula-
tions for their emissions as smelters
in other European countries.
The summit has been blasted by
many as a failure for not sealing a
binding agreement. What came out
of COP15 and how are negotiations
likely to proceed from here?
Of course we must all be somewhat
disappointed that no binding le-
gal resolution could be reached at
COP15, but in my opinion this was
not the big news of the summit. In
Copenhagen we saw a watershed in
the international debate on climate
change. No longer were we debating
whether or not climate change was a
problem, but debating how the prob-
lem should be dealt with. Getting all
countries around the table to agree
on that may seem like a small step,
but it is a very important one.
Now we have consensus on the
problem, and that gives us a firm ba-
sis for future negotiations. Copenha-
gen can be a success if we build on
it, but if we allow talks on climate
change to linger in a stalemate we
will all lose. The problem will not go
away.
Finally, what can the average person
in Iceland do to reduce emissions?
A simple answer would be: Buy
greener cars. Iceland has one of the
highest numbers of cars per capita,
and a very high portion of those are
gas-guzzlers. By making a careful
choice next time each family needs to
renew their car, big changes can be
made in the very near future. Also,
can we perhaps walk and bicycle for
shorter trips, for our health as well as
for the climate? Educated consump-
tion can make a huge difference.
To make this possible, the gov-
ernment hopes to strengthen pub-
lic transport and make eco-friendly
transportation options more feasible.
An increased number of dedicated
bus lanes will make travelling on
buses more desirable to many people.
Also, public employers and private
sector businesses will be encouraged
to subsidise their employees’ cost of
public transport. Working with the
Ministry of Finance, we want to lower
duties on the importation of bicycles
and bicycle parts, and make the taxa-
tion of other vehicles correlate with
their environmental impact.
Taking these changes on is a diffi-
cult task under the current economic
conditions, but this is an issue that
the government feels strongly about
realising. Currently, my ministry is
working with the Ministry of Trans-
port to make this happen, and I hope
we will see the results of that work
soon.
Politics | Environment
High Hopes
Minister for the Environment, Svandís Svavarsdóttir,
interviewed
ZOë ROBERT
JULIA STAPLES
“It is no secret that I
would prefer that we
would use our clean
energy in the future for
other purposes like, say,
powering data centres
or providing energy
for our cars and ships
when new climate-
friendly technologies
in those fields become
competitive.”