Strict carbon emission targets

A new report has proposed a list of extensive measures to fight climate change over the next ten years.

The report includes seven concrete steps and 20 recommendations, mostly concerning oil.

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The health ministry has announced that the Faroes will not meet its CO2 targets from 2009, when Parliament set out to reduce carbon emissions from 2010 to 2020 by at least 20 percent, compared to 2005 levels. 

It has now emerged that emissions are 9 percent higher today than in 2005.

Paris agreement

The Faroes have also committed themselves to the Paris agreement on climate change from 2015.

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This agreement obliges participating nations to notify the United Nations of their emission targets by 2020.

The consultation deadline for this agreement is this coming Friday.

Big cuts in oil consumption

As oil consumption is the major contributor to the high carbon emissions in the Faroe Islands, the report sets out to reduce land use of oil by 45 percent by 2030, compared with 2010 levels – from 141,000 to 79,000 tonnes.

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Efforts to reduce emissions from ships will be initiated immediately, with the target of halving emissions from ships by 2050, compared with 2008 levels.

The report recommends that a climate change advisory board is established in the Faroes.

Impose duty on oil

By 2030, at least half of all buildings should be heated by renewable energy.

The report also suggests that all VAT on equipment and labour related to insulation should be refunded over a fixed period to place insulation on an equal footing with heat pumps.

One way to reduce oil consumption is to impose heavy duties on oil as soon as possible. Another method suggested in the report is to ban the sales of petrol and diesel-powered cars by 2030, and to ban the sales of hybrid cars by 2035.

Translated by prosa.fo