Oil giant, climate saviour, or somewhere in between? Human rights and the Norwegian climate paradox

Norway’s recent decision to expand oil and gas exploration further North into the Barents Sea is contrasted with its active leadership role in global climate policymaking. We argue that this contradiction is a result of the key role petro-capitalism still plays in Norway, in addition to the countrys...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International Journal of Public Law and Policy
Main Authors: da Luz Scherf, Erick, Viana da Silva, Marcos Vincius
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Inderscience 2023
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/11250/3065429
https://doi.org/10.1504/IJPLAP.2023.10054627
Description
Summary:Norway’s recent decision to expand oil and gas exploration further North into the Barents Sea is contrasted with its active leadership role in global climate policymaking. We argue that this contradiction is a result of the key role petro-capitalism still plays in Norway, in addition to the countrys geopolitical aspirations in the Arctic. However, solely legalistic approaches to human rights and sustainability often miss out on the dynamics of power, capitalism, and industry interests and their influences on climate litigation. Thus, this article presents a critical assessment of climate and environmental litigation at the European Court of Human Rights by also looking at the recent application Greenpeace Nordic and Others against Norway. The goal is to understand both the possibilities and limitations of the human rights-sustainability framework vis-a-vis fossil fuel industries and the overall position of environmental rights claims within global capitalism. acceptedVersion