Norway willing to do more to fund UN climate deal

Norway is willing to give extra cash to launch a UN climate deal in December on top of hundreds of millions of dollars already promised to slow deforestation, environment minister Erik Solheim said on Friday.

He also said in an interview with Reuters that greenhouse gas emissions by Norway, the world's fifth biggest oil exporter, seem to have peaked in 2007 and would fall as part of a goal of cutting emissions by 30 percent by 2020 from 1990 levels.

"We have not decided on any amount but clearly we will do our part," Solheim told Reuters when asked if Oslo would give new money to help poor nations and kick-start the UN climate deal due to be agreed in Copenhagen at talks from December 7-18.

The United Nations has suggested that an initial $10 billion is needed in Copenhagen — on top of agreement on ways to raise far more in the longer-term — to help the poor cope with floods, droughts, desertification and rising seas.

Solheim also said Norway was already "doing a lot", including giving more than one percent of its gross domestic product in aid to developing nations. He said the percentage of GDP was the highest by any industrialised country.

"We have contributed a lot to the conservation of rainforests," he added.

Norway announced in 2007 that it would give about $500 million a year to help preserve tropical forests. Destruction of forests makes up for a fifth of all emissions -- trees absorb carbon dioxide as they grow and emit it when they rot or burn.

"It's fair to expect more from Norway than many other nations," he said. Norway is among the world's richest states and has a wealth fund of 2.55 billion crowns ($446 billion) invested abroad from surplus oil and gas revenues.

European Union leaders at a summit on Thursday will also try to work out how to finance the fight against climate change in developing nations — cash is one of the biggest stumbling blocks in the UN talks.

The last round of UN talks before Copenhagen will be held in Barcelona from November 2-6. Solheim will meet colleagues from key nations in Barcelona this weekend for informal talks to discuss ways of speeding up the sluggish negotiations.

Solheim said Norway's greenhouse gas emissions seem to have passed a record high in 2007. And emissions would fall in 2009, partly because of a mild recession.

"I hope and trust that we have passed the peak and we will gradually go down," he said. New technology, for instance, helped cut emissions by fertilisers producer Yara.

He reiterated Norway's 2020 unilateral pledge to cut emissions by 30 percent by 2020 from 1990 levels and by 40% if it helped a robust deal in Copenhagen.

The 2020 target is among the world's toughest but will be partly achieved by buying emissions quotas from other nations.

Norway's emissions were 7.4% above 1990 levels in 2008. That means that even the 30% cut works out as a whopping 35%reduction from 2008 by 2020.

"For Norway the huge challenge is to reduce emissions from the oil and gas sector," he said. Norway is investing heavily into ways of capturing and storing carbon dioxide. And Solheim said Norway should push for greater energy efficiency.