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Norwegian billionaire to build giant ship for environment research

Norwegian billionaire Kjell Inge Røkke is funding the purchase of a giant research vessel for the World Wild Fund for Nature (WWF).

Norwegian billionaire to build giant ship for environment research
Kjell Inge Røkke pictured in 2012. Photo: Lise Åserud/NTB scanpix

The 181-meter-long vessel, which is scheduled to be launched in the summer of 2020, will give researchers tools they could not otherwise have dreamed of, reports Aftenposten.

Equipment on board the research ship will enable researchers to take measurements from the atmosphere as well as 6,000 metres below the surface of the sea – including up to 20 metres under the seabed.

Mini-submarines and both under and overwater drones will be attached to the research vessel, which will also house an auditorium and seven laboratories, writes Aftenposten.

“This vessel will be able to take marine research to a completely new level. Finding solutions has never been more urgent,” the head of WWF Norway Nina Jensen said in a statement.

The ship will be able to collect and melt up to five tonnes of plastic every day without any harmful emissions, reports the newspaper.

READ ALSO: Norwegian government to spend millions removing litter from sea

“I have had the pleasure of being deeply involved in this project and will continue to be,” Røkke said in a rare interview with Aftenposten.

Røkke, a former fisherman who made his fortune after buying a trawler in the United States in 1982, is funding the entire project out of his own pocket, paying an unknown sum for the purchase and maintenance of the craft as well as its crew of 30 and 60-strong research team.

“The sea has given me great opportunities. I’m grateful for that,” the billionaire said.

A desire to use his fortune to benefit society lies behind the idea to fund the ship, Røkke said.

“I want to give the lion’s share of what I have earned back to society. This ship is part of that. The idea of a ship like this has developed over many years, but the plans only became reality over the last year,” he said.

Røkke controls several companies through his 66.7-percent stake in holding company Aker, including oil production group Aker BP, oil services group Aker Solutions, engineering group Kvaerner and biotech and fisheries group Aker Biomarine.

The businessman was reported last year by Kapital to be the tenth richest man in Norway, with a fortune totalling 17.2 billion kroner ($2 billion), and has also been named the country's richest man in the past.

“I have never worked with a company that has been so firm in its principle of operating sustainably, so we didn't hesitate when Røkke invited us to work on the development of this research ship,” said Jensen to Aftenposten.

Jensen and WWF already have collaborated with Røkke in other maritime projects over the last decade, reports the newspaper.

The research expedition vessel (REV) will be available for expeditions and research as well as for hire as a private yacht, according to the report.

Income will be used to reduce maintenance costs and help fund research and equipment costs.

Røkke told Aftenposten that he was concerned about both climate change and plastic pollution in the seas, but that his passion for science was one of the key elements in his funding the project.

“I have a desire to give something back. The ship will be a platform for creating more science and understanding. Researchers and other academic disciplines will hopefully be able to develop solutions and make a difference,” he said.

The billionaire added that he partly chose to work with WWF due to their commitment to the environment without using scare tactics or hyperbole that weaken the environmentalist cause.

“I don’t think we are near judgement day. The challenges are great, but we can solve them. I’m not in doubt about that. Panic and scare propaganda are often an obstacle to finding good solutions. I look forward to working with Nina and WWF,” he said.

READ ALSO: All the news on Norway and the environment

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‘Città 30’: Which Italian cities will bring in new speed limits?

Bologna has faced heavy criticism - including from the Italian government - after introducing a speed limit of 30km/h, but it's not the only city to approve these rules.

'Città 30': Which Italian cities will bring in new speed limits?

Bologna on January 17th became Italy’s first major city to introduce a speed limit of 30km/h on 70 percent of roads in the city centre under its ‘Città 30’ plan, first announced in 2022, and initially set to come into force by June 2023.

The move made Bologna one of a growing number of European cities, including Paris, Madrid, Brussels, and Bilbao, to bring in a 30km/h limit aimed at improving air quality and road safety.

But the change was met last week with a go-slow protest by Bologna’s taxi drivers and, perhaps more surprisingly, criticism from the Italian transport ministry, which financed the measure.

Matteo Salvini, who is currently serving as Italy’s transport minister, this week pledged to bring in new nationwide rules dictating speed limits in cities that would reverse Bologna’s new rule.

Salvini’s League party has long criticised Bologna’s ‘Città 30’ plan, claiming it would make life harder for residents as well as people working in the city and would create “more traffic and fines”.

OPINION: Italians and their cars are inseparable – will this ever change?

Bologna’s speed limit has sparked a heated debate across Italy, despite the increasingly widespread adoption of such measures in many other cities in Europe and worldwide in recent years.

While Bologna is the biggest Italian city to bring in the measure, it’s not the first – and many more local authorities, including in Rome, are now looking to follow their example in the next few years.

Some 60 smaller cities and towns in Italy have adopted the measure so far, according to Sky TG24, though there is no complete list.

This compares to around 200 French towns and cities to adopt the rule, while in Spain the same limit has applied to 70 percent of all the country’s roads since since May 2021 under nationwide rules, reports LA7.

The first Italian town to experiment with a 30 km/h speed limit was Cesena, south of Bologna, which introduced it in 1998. Since then, the local authority has found that serious accidents have halved, while the number of non-serious ones has remained unchanged.

Olbia, in Sardinia, also famously introduced the speed limit in 2021.

The city of Parma is planning to bring in the same rules from 2024, while the Tuscan capital of Florence approved five 30km/h zones in the city centre earlier this month.

Turin is set to bring in its first 30km/h limits this year as part of its broader plan to improve transport infrastructure, aimed at reducing smog and increasing livability.

READ ALSO: Why electric cars aren’t more popular in Italy

Meanwhile, the mayor of Rome, Roberto Gualtieri, has promised to introduce the limit on 70 percent of the capital’s roads by the end of his mandate, which expires in 2026.

In Milan, while the city council has voted in favour of lower speed limits and other traffic limitations on central roads, it’s not clear when these could come into force.

Milan mayor Beppe Sala this week said a 30 km/h limit would be “impossible” to implement in the Lombardy capital.

And it’s notable that almost all of the cities looking at slowing down traffic are in the north or centre-north of Italy.

There has been little interest reported in the measures further south, where statistics have shown there are a higher number of serious road accidents – though the total number of accidents is in fact higher in the north.

According to the World Health Organisation the risk of death to a pedestrian hit by a car driven at 50 km/h is 80 percent. The risk drops to 10 percent at 30 km/h.

The speed limit on roads in Italian towns and cities is generally 50, and on the autostrade (motorways) it’s up to 130.

Many Italian residents are heavily dependent on cars as their primary mode of transport: Italy has the second-highest rate of car ownership in Europe, with 670 vehicles per 1,000 residents, second only to Luxembourg with 682, according to statistics agency Eurostat.

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