Reykjavík Grapevine - jun. 2023, Síða 13

13 Feature
cycle, reduce, reuse. The terms are
straightforward enough for children
to understand and should be easy
enough to grasp for adults to imple-
ment.
Recycle what you can, reuse what
can’t be recycled and reduce overall
consumption. These three Rs form
the philosophy of the circular econ-
omy, which climate scientists have
estimated could address some 70%
of global greenhouse gas emissions
if taken up on a large scale by cor-
porations worldwide.
However, at the OK Bye conference
that took place May 24 as part of
Iceland Innovation Week saw the
focus centred on three new Rs: Re-
duce, recapture and repair.
Ocean Visions CEO Brad Ack said
that while the world has been largely
focused on emissions reduction –
which is critical – we need to boost
our collective focus on carbon re-
moval and environmental repair.
“If we want to actually restore our
climate, restore the planet, we have
to do much better and we have to
clean up the entire mess. Just like
we learned in kindergarten: clean
up your mess,” he said. “We’ve got
to clean up this giant mess we’ve
created in the atmosphere that’s
trapping all this heat and we have
to do it fast, and it’s going to take
innovation. And I love the leadership
Iceland is showing in creating spac-
es for that innovation to happen and
that research and development and
testing and ultimately scaling.”
That leadership was on display later
in the conference when Minister
of Higher Education, Science and
Innovation Áslaug Arna Sigurb-
jörnsdóttir lauded Iceland’s “þetta
reddast” motto as the reason why
it’s the perfect place for startups
and larger companies to come and
set up operations. This was another
major focus of Iceland Innovation
week, with the term “eco-industrial
park” floating around in several pan-
el discussions and presentations.
Jumping at opportunities and acting
with speed rather than long-term
thinking and intention has gotten
Iceland into trouble in the past. Is
it really the best approach to take
when it comes to something as seri-
ous as the climate crisis?
“I’ve said to Áslaug that we need to
be enacting not just arbitrary climate
policies, but something more akin to
an industrial policy,” Smári says. “It
sounds like a horrible word because
everybody thinks industry is dirty,
industry is bad; but industrial policy
is just a structure around making
decisions about what kinds of things
are being promoted and supported
by the government. You have to have
the ability to have some level of fore-
sight in the government to at least
indicate what kinds of things are
not going to be desirable and select
[projects or opportunities] with that
in mind.”
He continues, “If the government
were a little bit less boastful and
more entrepreneurial, maybe we
would get some progress on that.”
Part of that entrepreneurial spirit is
being embraced by the country and
its national power company Lands-
virkjun actively courting companies
to move in and set up operations
in one of a handful of “eco-indus-
trial parks” (EIP) being established
around the country. These EIPs are
areas where companies operate in
somewhat of a symbiosis, with one
company potentially using the runoff
from their neighbour to fuel part of
their own operations.
The ethos of EIPs, according to
Landsvirkjun, is based on the cir-
cular economy in that they create
opportunities for manufacturing
companies to improve power utili-
sation and put waste and by-prod-
ucts from their production to use
at neighbouring companies. The
focus, however, as outlined by a
panel moderated by Landsvirkjun at
Iceland Innovation Week, is on the
exploitation of Iceland’s abundant
geothermal energy and the option
of one company in an EIP buying a
massive amount of energy for an
even more discounted rate and then
selling that power to their neigh-
bours, allowing all of them to pay
even less into the local economy
than they otherwise would.
How that is good for Iceland’s bot-
tom line or for its ultimate goals of
reducing emissions is a mystery.
Though it’s clear how it benefits
industry and Landsvirkjun.
Landsvirkjun hypothesises that the
creation of EIPs would be in line with
the needs of the local communities
in which they operate, but the ease
with which small communities have
been lured into welcoming heavily
polluting smelters into their fjords in
exchange for jobs that will keep the
village alive for a few more years has
happened before. How EIPs would
differ (beyond the branding) remains
to be seen.
THINKING OUTSIDE OUR
BORDERS
One glaring issue with the govern-
ment’s climate targets is that they
fail to take into account Iceland’s
larger carbon footprint once its im-
ports and consumption is taken into
account.
While Iceland does a stellar job of
marketing itself as a green utopia on
account of our abundance of ge-
othermal energy and our relatively
eager uptake of electric vehicles in
recent years, when it comes to con-
sumption there’s no getting around
the fact that we are a heavily import-
ing and very wasteful nation.
Feature Surviving The Anthropocene
Exploring Iceland’s role in addressing climate change
If we want to actually restore
our climate, restore the planet,
we have to do much better and
we have to clean up the en-
tire mess. Just like we learned
in kindergarten: clean up your
mess.
Iceland is importing so much
and producing so little of
what is utilised in society. It’s
a hugely affluent country and
actually relies extremely heav-
ily on others to produce what
Icelanders think they need or
what they want to have in their
lives.