Is carbon offsetting the right environmental policy choice for Norway?

Abstract

The Carbon Credit Procurement Program (CCPP) was launched, by the Norwegian government in 2007, in order to ensure that it meets its emissions commitments under the Kyoto Protocol. The CCPP is part of the most extensive reduction-credit system in Europe, the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), which guarantees certified emission reductions (CERs), thanks to investments in developing and least developed countries (LDCs). This thesis will address a central question: Will carbon offsetting be the right choice for Norway? The topic is treated in an interdisciplinary way: focusing on ethical, legal, and economic perspectives, since each of these aspects is deeply interconnected with environmentally sustainable growth. The research questions are addressed by using a mixed-methods approach, combining forecasting techniques with stakeholder interviews. The results indicated that the current Norwegian green policy is, first, highly unlikely to reach the emission reductions targets for 2030 and 2050. Second, the results made it clear that the limitations of carbon offsetting are, to a large extent, linked to the impossibility of carrying out measures in line with ethical considerations such as fairness, distributional and ethical justice, especially with regard to the southern countries. Altogether, it can be concluded that, despite the genuine attempt, on the part of Norway to contribute to global reductions emissions, through the CCPP, an increased cost-effectiveness should be meet through an environmental policy, where the needs of the developed and LDCs countries are at the center of the Norwegian political decisions, in line with the ethical principles on which political negotiations have been based since the Paris Agreement.