Weather, Stavanger | It will be a super municipality in climate

STAVANGER (Nettavisen Økonomi 🙂 Two years ago, the councilor for the then Stavanger municipality presented a recommendation with two alternatives: the municipality could reduce greenhouse gases by 40 percent by 2030 or by 50 percent by 2030.

Instead, the majority of municipal politicians decided that greenhouse gas emissions in the municipality should be reduced by as much as 80 percent over the next eleven years.

The following year, a colorful coalition of parties won municipal elections in the city, and the MDGs demanded that the Stavanger municipality prepare a separate climate budget similar to the one that the Oslo municipality did in 2017.

As I said, done like this: In October, the Stavanger Municipality presented its first climate budget, a recipe for how Stavanger will be able to reduce 80 percent of emissions by 2030.

However, three significant sources of emissions from the inhabitants of the municipality have been omitted from the calculation, as they are outside the municipal term:

• Waste incineration in Sandnes: Residual waste for Stavanger residents is led 1.5 kilometers outside the municipal border to Forus Energigjenvinning to be incinerated. Forus Energigjenvinning is the largest point CO2 emission in Sør-Rogaland, with Stavanger waste accounting for 20 percent of everything burned. Emissions from the Stavanger landfill correspond to approximately 11,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalents per year.
• Flights in Sola: Everyone who is going to fly to or from Stavanger Sola Airport must cross the Stavanger municipal border into the neighboring municipality of Sola. Passenger emissions in Stavanger Municipality are estimated at approximately 15,000 tons of CO2 equivalent. Stavanger Airport is located about five kilometers from the municipal border.
• Drainage in Randaberg: Sewage and wastewater from the inhabitants of Stavanger is transported to the central treatment plant in Mekjarvik in Randaberg, four kilometers north of the municipality of Stavanger. Emissions from here associated with Stavanger Municipality are estimated at 3,400 tonnes of CO2 equivalents per year.

Here, other municipalities must account for a total of 29,400 tonnes of CO2 equivalents that can be linked to Stavanger. Total emissions in the municipality of Stavanger in 2018 would have increased by around 7 percent if these emissions were part of the calculation.

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Frp: – Completely crazy

Leif Arne Moi Nilsen of the Progress Party was among the politicians who protested when the majority of Stavanger politicians in 2018 set a goal of 80 percent emissions cuts by 2030. He still believes the goal is unrealistic.

– Nor have we taken into account that we merged with Finnøy and Rennesøy, which meant that greenhouse gas emissions per capita soared overnight on New Years, says Frp Stavanger profile.

While each inhabitant of Stavanger emitted 1.2 tons of CO2 equivalents per inhabitant, the corresponding emissions per capita in Finnøy and Rennesøy were 19.5 tons and 17.5 tons. The municipality has chosen to wait to include agriculture in the climate budget until next year pending a thematic plan for agriculture and agriculture in the new municipality of Stavanger.

Moi Nilsen believes that it is wrong that Stavanger’s climate budget should not take into account Stavanger’s emissions that occur in Sandnes, Sola and Randaberg, and that one should rather think regionally.

– A significant proportion of what is burned with waste in Sandnes comes from Stavanger. We pass it on to the neighbor, then Sandnes has to deal with it. At the same time, Stavanger politicians criticize Sandnes for wanting to cut “only” 40 percent of emissions by 2030. It’s insane, says Moi Nilsen.

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The FRP politician believes it is “rude” for Stavanger to not factor its own emissions from waste, sewage and flights in other municipalities in the climate budget, repeatedly repeating that it believes it is unrealistic.

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ODM: – Please understand if Frp thinks it is difficult to swallow

Rune Askeland, MDG politician and head of the environment and development committee in Stavanger, believes that FRP’s Moi Nilsen is wrong when he characterizes the climate budget as unrealistic.

– The climate budget is largely based on knowledge. The chief of environmental protection has had a separate department in the municipality in charge of preparing a climate account that is realistic and professionally heavy, says Askeland.

Askeland believes that the budget is important for Stavanger to reach its climate goals.

– We are now ahead of schedule. We have cut 26,000 tons of CO2 per year so far and we must cut 22,000 tons of CO2 per year by 2030. We are on our way, and we believe it is possible, but it will require tough measures, says Askeland.

Faced with the fact that emissions from garbage and air traffic are not included in the budget, Askeland responds that he wishes they were not.

– Of course, we would like to be able to include emissions from airplanes and garbage in our climate budget as well. Our trash is sent to Sandnes, who has a much weaker climate plan than us, led by Frp. But we don’t think our climate plan will be easier to implement even if emissions from garbage are not included, says Askeland.

He explains that Stavanger, one of Norway’s largest food municipalities, for example, takes responsibility for emissions from food production that other municipalities should not take into account. At the same time, Stavanger will help Sandnes reduce emissions from the Forus incineration plant, among other things, by pushing for CO2 capture and storage, according to the ODM politician.

– Isn’t it possible that Stavanger is responsible for its share of the rubbish that is incinerated at Sandnes and its share of the passengers who fly and land at Sola?

– Of course we can. But then we must have a binding climate plan for all of Nord-Jæren. In many respects, we are ahead of the other municipalities in this work. I understand if Frp thinks this is difficult to accept, but for us the weather is the number one problem, says Askeland.

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These measures will guarantee the reduction of emissions

The Municipality of Stavanger has designated 146 measures that can reduce emissions in Stavanger, and the budget states that emissions can be significantly reduced if the municipality is willing to spend money.

In 2018, total emissions in Stavanger were 410,284 tons of CO2 equivalent, about 80,000 tons less than in 2015. Road traffic, shipping and agriculture are the three largest sources of emissions in the municipality.

In total, Stavanger can cut 25,500 tons of CO2 equivalents in 2021 and 47,500 CO2 equivalents by 2024 if the municipality invests NOK 225 million over the next four years.

Among the measures that are most in the form of emission cuts is investment in infrastructure for traffic and electric road transport:

• If Stavanger the share of electric cars increases in line with the National Transportation Plan, emissions in the municipality will decrease with 27,100 tons of CO2equivalents by 2024. Stavanger has already decided that two million crowns will go towards charging for public lighting and 600,000 crowns will go towards charging systems in housing associations and co-owners.
• Speedboats and ferries that run on electricity or biofuels should be able to reduce emissions in Stavanger 11,200 tons of CO2equivalents for 2024.
• Production of heat and biochar from plant waste. at the Søra Bråde biochar plant will reduce emissions 9,500 tons of CO2 equivalents. The increase in the participation of biogas in the two plants of the sewage and waste treatment company IVAR may also reduce emissions accordingly. 7,000 tons of CO2 equivalents within four years.

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