How are the Nordic Countries so Green? A Study of Clean Energy in the Nordic Countries
By Tali Wong
The Nordic countries lead Europe in the transition to renewable energy with all of the Nordic countries meeting the European Union set goals two years early. In fact, approximately 98% of the energy that Norway uses comes from renewable sources. In Norway, more than half of car sales in 2018 were electric or hybrid. So how are these countries able to be so far ahead of the rest of the European Union and the rest of the world?
To start, many of these countries have a natural advantage. Each of the countries has rich natural resources that in turn allow them to produce large amounts of renewable energy. In Norway, most of the renewable energy comes from hydropower. Norway has enough hydropower plants and reservoirs to cover 90% of its energy needs. To manage fluctuating demand in electricity, these hydropower plants store water so that they can be a flexible source of energy not as dependent on the weather, unlike wind and solar which are intermittent. However, there is still a reliance on natural resources which means that the Nordic countries must have something else going for them.
The Nordic countries are way ahead of the rest of the world in terms of their power grid. Primarily, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Denmark are highly connected and trade electricity with each other. The Nordic countries have a much more robust electricity grid. If Norway isn’t generating enough energy through its renewable resources, they can import electricity from Sweden and vice versa. More recently, Norway has begun to export electricity to the United Kingdom and Germany as it is more profitable. However, this has led to disputes between the nordic countries and the closing of borders to electricity imports and exports. The lack of cooperation between the countries means that they can’t help supply energy to each other when one country is not producing enough. It also foreshadows issues that could occur in a larger energy grid where many more countries are required to cooperate.
On the policy side of things, the Nordic countries have carbon taxes. The Nordic countries were the first countries to implement carbon pricing in the early 90s. They used carbon pricing as a way to generate revenue when the countries were in need of money. To please public opinion, income taxes were decreased. As such, the governments were making money from carbon taxes instead of income taxes.
One thing to keep in mind is that Norway’s most important export is oil and natural gas. Its economy relies on the export of natural gass. As such there is a paradox. Norway wants to be a world leader in renewable energy, but also pollutes immensely when it comes to extracting fossil fuels. Norway, along with the rest of the world has separated its usage of fossil fuels from the production of fossil fuels. Norway uses very few fossil fuels but produces a huge amount. Since most regulations and international agreements focus only on the burning of fossil fuels, Norway is able to claim that it is a leader while still causing much pollution. Clearly even countries that use 98% renewable energy still have a lot of work to do.