Norway falls on the prestige list: – Now we’re just bad

For years, Norway has been at the forefront of the UN Human Development Report, which measures which is the best country in the world to live in. But now that the survey turns 30, they have adopted a new tool. Makes Norway drop the list.

The new move means Norway is dropping from 1st to 16th place, while countries like Australia are dropping 72 places. Canada and the United States fall 45 and 40 places respectively. At the same time, countries like Costa Rica, Moldova, Mexico, Colombia and Panama are climbing steeply up the list.

The UK is also making good progress (ten places) and is now in third place.

New calculation method

The reason Norway is now collapsing on the list, and it is placed between Malta and Japan and Italy, is that the UN development program, UNDP, has used a couple of new factors in the calculation.

So far, average results have been measured on life expectancy, education, and income. Starting this year, climate and environmental costs are also included in the calculations.

– The result shows a less pleasant picture of human development, concludes the UNDP in its report.

According to UNDP chief Achim Steiner, the new measurement method is not fully developed and is not intended to be a “judgment” on countries.

– Many countries have made great strides, but this has also caused great damage to the planet, says Steiner.

He says the list now shows that being rich is not the only way to show that you are successful and ready for a future-oriented economy.

The UN still lists where countries end up without the recalculation, and regardless of climate and environmental targets, Norway still reigns supreme.

– Impossible to hide

Nature and Youth leader Therese Hugstmyr Woie notes that Norway’s dramatic fall with the new estimate may be helpful:

– We hope this is a good reality check before the elections. The most important thing we get from this survey is that it is more important to be a good country for many years than to be the best country in the world today, he tells TV 2.

She points out that while Norway is good at taking environmental action around the world, like contributing to large ocean panels and investments in the rainforest, we are not that good here at home:

– This report makes it impossible to hide the distance between what we do in the world and at home, he says.

– It is great that the environment and the climate become part of those lists, and that these considerations are not only the complaint of environmentalists about power. Now it goes deeper into what the condition really is like, Woie continues.

– awake

According to NRK, which mentioned the case for the first time, Norway is the country with the sixth highest material footprint value with a greenhouse gas emission of 37.9 tons per inhabitant.

In terms of CO2 emissions, Norway has 8.3 tons per capita, which is among the 30 largest values ​​in total.

Oda Pettersen, the first Green Party candidate in Agder, describes Norway’s downfall as sensational.

– The fall is a confirmation of how irresponsible the government’s policy is now. All the people with whom we have the climate strike confirm what we believe: Norway must act. It doesn’t help that we’ve been the best in class before, we’re not anymore. Now we’re just plain bad, and I hope this can be a wake-up call, he tells TV 2.

For Norway to regain first place, he believes that certain measures must be taken, such as climate policy in the first place.

– We must show that we will stop drilling for more oil and that we will invest in green jobs. In recent years, Oslo has implemented a comprehensive ecological policy, including the provision of transport. It must spread to the rest of the country, and it must be made more difficult and more expensive to live in a climate hostile way. But then we need political will, a type of will that we clearly lack today, says Pettersen.

– No people or trees

The new UNDP report warns that the world’s poorest country by 2100 will likely have more than 100 days of extreme weather a year, but that this can be cut in half if the goals of the Paris Agreement are achieved, Reuters writes. .

The report also presents proposals on how this can be done and highlights subsidy cuts in the oil, gas and coal industry, as well as measures to grow new forests and reduce food waste.

“The next threshold for human development is not about choosing people or trees, it is about recognizing that current human progress is driven by carbon-intensive outdated growth,” says report author Pedro Conceição.

Woie at Nature and Youth believes that it is a concrete step that Norway should take in order to climb the list of the best countries in the world again.

She believes that Norway should take the initiative for a global agreement on oil production.

– A recent report on the terms of the Paris Agreement shows that we are behind schedule. National emission reduction targets are not being met, we must also act on the supply side. We must not only reduce consumption, but restrict access. Norway is a small country in most contexts, but we are a large oil producer and we have the best ability to leave it alone, he says.

Erna: elongated earth

Prime Minister Erna Solberg emphasizes that Norway continues to top the list of living standards, but that we have fallen because it is measured in environmental footprint.

– There is no doubt that a country like Norway, which has an economy based on raw materials, and although we have a lot of knowledge and experience, we will leave an environmental footprint on the activity that we have to a greater extent than countries that are based on technology . says Erna Solberg on TV 2.

The Prime Minister points out that the landscape increases emissions.

– It is the case that Norway is a country where the transport sector has high emissions, where agriculture and industry produce emissions. It is important to remember that we must have jobs in the country. We have lower emissions than other countries in which we operate. We are not densely populated countries, like Denmark. We have long distances and that generates more emissions, he says.