Creative and disruptive elements in Norway´s climate policy mix: the small-state perspective

Abstract

Recent scholarship has argued that effective and credible national climate policy mixes should encompass measures that promote new low-carbon technologies alongside those instruments aimed at constraining and phasing out support for existing polluting industries. The creative and disruptive policy measures in Norway´s climate policy mix are analysed by focusing on both national and international climate mitigation efforts. Norway´s climate policy mix at home has been more ambitious in the transport sector with a growing electric vehicle market than in the energy sector where niche support and disruptive policies have remained weak. Abroad, Norway has been increasingly active in supporting new low-carbon technologies and disrupting the fossilfuel industry, especially coal. This is explained by the consensus-seeking and oil and gas dominated small-state social-investment political economy in Norway, combined with a forward-looking foreign policy based on normsetting and multilateralism.

What makes people act climate-friendly? A decision-making path model for designing effective climate change policies

“…Measures promoting the implementation of low-carbon technologies consist of a mix of "niche support" (incentives) and "creative destruction" (phase out) policies to overcome societal and structural lock-ins that otherwise create path dependencies preventing socio-technical transitions for more sustainable development [55] 2 . This can include incentives for climate-friendly technologies to reduce the high upfront costs [57] such as in the case of electric cars in Norway, where electric cars are sold with reduced or exempted value added tax (VAT).…”

“…Furthermore, renewable energy support scheme policies, such as the green certificate program [55], can foster green infrastructure development. Green certificates are tradeable commodities.…”

Climate politics in small European states

“…The next two contributions focus on corporatism in Nordic states. Ćetković and Skjaerseth (2019) analyse the creative and disruptive elements of Norway's climate policy mix, distinguishing three main phases in its development. The first phase (1989)(1990)(1991)(1992)(1993)(1994)(1995), termed 'symbolic destruction', emphasised cost-efficient stabilisation of domestic emissions.…”

Decarbonisation through modernisation: The UK’s EV transition as a vehicle for industrial change

“…The ascent of electric vehicles (EVs) up the environmental policy agenda of many polities in recent years has garnered relatively little attention in the political economy literature, save a few exceptions ( Ćetković and Skjaerseth, 2019;Jackson, 2023;Meckling and Nahm, 2018;Remme and Jackson, 2023). This contrasts with the rate at which EVs have been institutionalised within environmental objectives, as governments lend their signatures to international environmental agreements, from the Paris Agreement to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).…”