Down: Co2 emissions in Norway
'Norway emissions drop not enough'
Norway's greenhouse gas emissions fell by 2.2% in 2008, led by a decline in the manufacturing industry, but were still far above goals under the UN's Kyoto Protocol, Statistics Norway said today.
Emissions fell to the equivalent of 53.8 million tonnes of carbon dioxide from 55.1 million in 2007, it said.
Overall gross domestic product growth slowed in 2008 to 2.1% from 3.1% the year before.
The drop in emissions was a consequence of reduced consumption of fossil fuels and investment in new technology in the chemical industry, the state statistics agency said.
The figures put Norway's emissions 7.4% above its goal of limiting emissions to 50.1 million tonnes a year from 2008-12, or 1% above 1990 levels, under the UN's Kyoto Protocol.
Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg has said, however, that Norway will sharpen its Kyoto goal unilaterally by an extra 10 percentage points.
Emissions from manufacturing industries, helped by investments in cleaner technologies, fell to 14.1 million tonnes in 2008 from 14.7 million in 2007, Statistics Norway said.
That meant oil and gas production overtook manufacturing as the biggest source of emissions.
Emissions from oil and gas fell by 0.7% to 14.3 million tonnes as increased flaring from new fields was offset by decreased emissions from gas terminals.
Norway, the world's number six oil exporter and Western Europe's biggest gas exporter, has fared better than many other nations in the global economic crisis, sustained by petroleum revenues, government stimulus measures and a string of rate cuts by the central bank.