Norway has a unique position in that it is un-equivocally an oil country, yet at the same time it tops all most sustainable countries top 10 rankings.
Sustainability is a key factor for Innovation Norway, of which Invest in Norway is the FDI department of, when providing services, especially financing, to the Norwegian business community. Innovation Norway has developed a special marketplace to showcase Norwegian greentech solutions to the world; The Explorer. The Explorer is part of Innovation Norway’s efforts to promote Norway as a sustainability pioneer. It is developed in close collaboration with leading Norwegian businesses, organisations and government bodies, and has a formal partnership with UN Global Compact.
Norway is today in a position to host international industry with the aim of lowering their carbon footprint. Norway has a surplus of renewable energy to Europe’s lowest price, have a capacity to produce large quantities of hydrogen- both blue and green- and is now building an infrastructure to catch, transport and deploy CO2 in the ground (The Longship project with Northern Lights). In addition, there is considerable biomass available.
Norway is in a Nordic perspective rather unique in that it has a very strong “blue economy”, where the oil and gas industry is very dominant, but also a large maritime and seafood industry. Thus Norway faces special challenges, but the solutions and opportunities are to a large extent also to be found in these blue industries.
Per is a special advisor at Invest in Norway, and has worked for over 20 years for Innovation Norway. These days he is working with foreign companies that would like to lower their carbon footprint by establishing in Norway.