Norway is laughing at Miliband’s net zero folly

Here’s a pub quiz question: which European country has no net zero target? I don’t mean which country is not bothering too much about conforming with its net zero target, because that is most of them, but which one doesn’t even have such a target in the first place? The surprising answer is Norway, which has a target of reducing its carbon emissions by 90 to 95 per cent on 1990 levels by 2050 but has made no commitment so far to go all the way.

It is surprising because, in many respects, the Scandinavian country is the global equivalent of a class creep – it almost always seems to behave in a way which officials at the United Nations and other international global NGOs find exemplary. Indeed, it is one of the few countries whose policies are very nearly consistent with its carbon reduction target, in the judgement of the website Climate Action Tracker.