Today in Norway: A roundup of the latest news on Wednesday
Government investment in offshore wind, SAS cutting flights and the Office of the Auditor General focusing on green issues are among the main stories from Norway today.
Government announces heavy investment in offshore wind
The Norwegian government announced a large scale investment in offshore wind at a press conference on Wednesday morning.
It said that it hoped that by 2040 there would be capacity for 30,000 MW of offshore wind production. This would be almost double the energy produced by wind in Norway currently.
The development of offshore wind would also see new power cables built to supply Europe with Energy.
"With this ambition, we go from the two offshore wind turbines that are in operation today to about 1,500 offshore wind turbines. The construction will take place over the next 20 years," Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said at a press conference.
SAS cancels 4,000 flights this summer
Airline SAS has cancelled 4,000 flights scheduled between May and September.
"These are changes we make throughout the program, and it is important to emphasise that this applies to 4,000 of approximately 75,000 flights in the same period. Most passengers will not notice in any other way that they are booked over to other flights on the same day," press officer for SAS, John Eckhoff, told ABC News.
The reason for the cancellations are troubles with staffing, and the delay of several new aircraft being delivered, Swedish outlet Dagens Industri reports.
Office of the Auditor General to focus on green issues
The Office of the Auditor General (Riksrevisjonen) will focus its sights on the climate as a key issue for the agency.
The agency is responsible for auditing the governemnt and parliament and assessing how efficiently it is performing.
"The Storting (Norway's parliament) is quite clear that the climate challenge is the biggest challenge of our time. Then we must also have it as our main focus, otherwise, we are neither relevant nor follow our assignment from the Storting," Karl-Eirik Schhøtt-Pedersen told newspaper VG.
Schjøtt Pedersen also announced several reports on whether the Norwegian state was well equipped to meet parliament's climate goals for 2030.
"Our task is not to assess whether the Storting sets the right goals, but to see if the administration can implement the Storting's goals," Schjøtt-Pedersen said.
Bullying ombudsman says russ busses too exclusive
The ombudsman for bullying in Viken county believes that russ buses should be more regulated due to their exclusive nature.
"We receive many inquiries from parents, young people and schools about the consequences of the Russ celebration and how it mercilessly affects young people's everyday lives," head of the bullying ombudsman in Viken, Bodil J. Houg, told Drammens Tidende.
The ombud said that russ celebrations affected pupils' everyday school life so much that something needed to be done, and has made a list of ten points with suggestions for improvement.
The list uniforms being axed, moving the celebrations until after exams and making the rules for busses tighter.
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Government announces heavy investment in offshore wind
The Norwegian government announced a large scale investment in offshore wind at a press conference on Wednesday morning.
It said that it hoped that by 2040 there would be capacity for 30,000 MW of offshore wind production. This would be almost double the energy produced by wind in Norway currently.
The development of offshore wind would also see new power cables built to supply Europe with Energy.
"With this ambition, we go from the two offshore wind turbines that are in operation today to about 1,500 offshore wind turbines. The construction will take place over the next 20 years," Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said at a press conference.
SAS cancels 4,000 flights this summer
Airline SAS has cancelled 4,000 flights scheduled between May and September.
"These are changes we make throughout the program, and it is important to emphasise that this applies to 4,000 of approximately 75,000 flights in the same period. Most passengers will not notice in any other way that they are booked over to other flights on the same day," press officer for SAS, John Eckhoff, told ABC News.
The reason for the cancellations are troubles with staffing, and the delay of several new aircraft being delivered, Swedish outlet Dagens Industri reports.
Office of the Auditor General to focus on green issues
The Office of the Auditor General (Riksrevisjonen) will focus its sights on the climate as a key issue for the agency.
The agency is responsible for auditing the governemnt and parliament and assessing how efficiently it is performing.
"The Storting (Norway's parliament) is quite clear that the climate challenge is the biggest challenge of our time. Then we must also have it as our main focus, otherwise, we are neither relevant nor follow our assignment from the Storting," Karl-Eirik Schhøtt-Pedersen told newspaper VG.
Schjøtt Pedersen also announced several reports on whether the Norwegian state was well equipped to meet parliament's climate goals for 2030.
"Our task is not to assess whether the Storting sets the right goals, but to see if the administration can implement the Storting's goals," Schjøtt-Pedersen said.
Bullying ombudsman says russ busses too exclusive
The ombudsman for bullying in Viken county believes that russ buses should be more regulated due to their exclusive nature.
"We receive many inquiries from parents, young people and schools about the consequences of the Russ celebration and how it mercilessly affects young people's everyday lives," head of the bullying ombudsman in Viken, Bodil J. Houg, told Drammens Tidende.
The ombud said that russ celebrations affected pupils' everyday school life so much that something needed to be done, and has made a list of ten points with suggestions for improvement.
The list uniforms being axed, moving the celebrations until after exams and making the rules for busses tighter.
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