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Climate activists stage protests in Oslo as part of week-long demonstrations

Climate action group Extinction Rebellion blocked off several roads, streets and buildings in Oslo on Tuesday as part of a number of week-long protests in the Norwegian capital. 

Published: 24 August 2021 15:40 CEST
Climate activists stage protests in Oslo as part of week-long demonstrations
Extinction Rebellion protestors in Germany in 2019. Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

On Tuesday, climate activism group Extinction Rebellion blocked off the intersection at Frederiks Gate Street and Karl Johans Gate Street by the palace in Oslo and protested outside the Ministry of Climate and Environment as part of a set of week-long demonstrations in the city. 

Around 100 demonstrators, some of who chained themselves together using plastic tubes, were at the intersection near the palace, and police set up roadblocks around the group before moving them on.

The demonstrations are part of what the group has called “non-violent disobedience” to protest the Norwegian government’s decision to continue drilling for oil. 

“We are protesting against the Norwegian government’s decision to drill for more and more oil. It exacerbates an already escalating climate crisis,” the group’s spokesperson told local news site Avisa Oslo. 

Despite its green ambitions of being climate neutral by 2030 and a “low carbon” society by 2050, the country is still one of the worlds largest exporters of oil and natural gas. 

In addition to this, the country will continue oil drilling, exploration, and production in the coming decades. This, the International Energy Agency, has previously said, is entirely at odds with the global goal of reaching net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. 

READ MORE: How will climate change impact Norway?

On Monday, 48 people were arrested following protests outside the Ministry of Petroleum and demonstrations in Majorstuen and Grünnerløkka. 

Oslo Police District has so far issued 33 fines of 13,000 kroner. In total, 429,000 korner of fines have been dished out so far. 

The group have said the fines activists pick up will be partially subsidised through fundraising, but members were ultimately responsible for their own fines. 

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ENVIRONMENT

Sweden’s SSAB to build €4.5bn green steel plant in Luleå 

The Swedish steel giant SSAB has announced plans to build a new steel plant in Luleå for 52 billion kronor (€4.5 billion), with the new plant expected to produce 2.5 million tons of steel a year from 2028.

Published: 2 April 2024 13:44 CEST
Sweden's SSAB to build €4.5bn green steel plant in Luleå 

“The transformation of Luleå is a major step on our journey to fossil-free steel production,” the company’s chief executive, Martin Lindqvist, said in a press release. “We will remove seven percent of Sweden’s carbon dioxide emissions, strengthen our competitiveness and secure jobs with the most cost-effective and sustainable sheet metal production in Europe.”

The new mini-mill, which is expected to start production at the end of 2028 and to hit full capacity in 2029, will include two electric arc furnaces, advanced secondary metallurgy, a direct strip rolling mill to produce SSABs specialty products, and a cold rolling complex to develop premium products for the transport industry.

It will be fed partly from hydrogen reduced iron ore produced at the HYBRIT joint venture in Gälliväre and partly with scrap steel. The company hopes to receive its environemntal permits by the end of 2024.

READ ALSO: 

The announcement comes just one week after SSAB revealed that it was seeking $500m in funding from the US government to develop a second HYBRIT manufacturing facility, using green hydrogen instead of fossil fuels to produce direct reduced iron and steel.

The company said it also hoped to expand capacity at SSAB’s steel mill in Montpelier, Iowa. 

The two new investment announcements strengthen the company’s claim to be the global pioneer in fossil-free steel.

It produced the world’s first sponge iron made with hydrogen instead of coke at its Hybrit pilot plant in Luleå in 2021. Gälliväre was chosen that same year as the site for the world’s first industrial scale plant using the technology. 

In 2023, SSAB announced it would transform its steel mill in Oxelösund to fossil-free production.

The company’s Raahe mill in Finland, which currently has new most advanced equipment, will be the last of the company’s big plants to shift away from blast furnaces. 

The steel industry currently produces 7 percent of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions, and shifting to hydrogen reduced steel and closing blast furnaces will reduce Sweden’s carbon emissions by 10 per cent and Finland’s by 7 per cent.

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