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6.4 FollowInG the tarGet—norway’s Zero
Growth objectIve
Norway’s Zero Growth Objective for transport in urban areas is a useful
illustration of how climate-related targets work their way into concrete
policy-making. The goal itself states that all growth in personal traffic in
the largest cities will be covered by public transport, walking and cycling. The
“zero growth” aspect implied in this is of course that there will be no
growth in private car traffic.
The legitimation of the target has been incremental, and involves multiple actors with divergent interests. Still, the progression from abstract
target formulation towards a tangible foundation for concrete policy
implementation is traceable by examining a series of key documents
over time.
The contours of the Zero Growth Objective can be traced back at least
to the 2006 White Paper on Norwegian Climate Policy [Meld. St. 34,
2006–2007]. There the government put forward some initial goals for
climate-related policy in the transport sector, writing that there is a “need
to shift the use of transport modes towards public transport, walking and
cycling.” The overarching reference for this White Paper was the international 2 °C target, adopted by the Norwegian government a year prior.
While the 2 °C target is somewhat arbitrary and has been a source of controversy (Randalls 2010), it is referred to here and in most climate-related
Norwegian national policy documents in a way that sets the level of ambition and points to the global urgency. The 2 °C target, notwithstanding
the controversy over its origins and usefulness, is providing the framing for
Norwegian policy, including the Zero Growth Objective back in 2006.
That formulation—“shift the use of transport modes towards public
transport, walking and cycling”—can be found in all the key national climate policy documents from then on. The 2008 Climate Accord between
all parties in Parliament minus one, the 2012 White Paper on Norwegian
Climate Policy, and the 2012 Climate Accord, all use that same formulation with miniscule variations. Notably, however, the context in which
that formulation is placed gets increasingly concrete and binding. In the
2012 White Paper, it is actually formulated as a target (“The Government
has the goal that…”). Around the same time, the National Transport Plan
Working Group put forward a proposition as an official goal of Norwegian
transport policy, that the large cities should have zero growth except in
“public transport, walking and cycling,” and simultaneously coined the
6 DO CLIMATE TARGETS MATTER? THE ACCOUNTABILITY…
6.4 FollowInG the tarGet—norway’s Zero
Growth objectIve
Norway’s Zero Growth Objective for transport in urban areas is a useful
illustration of how climate-related targets work their way into concrete
policy-making. The goal itself states that all growth in personal traffic in
the largest cities will be covered by public transport, walking and cycling. The
“zero growth” aspect implied in this is of course that there will be no
growth in private car traffic.
The legitimation of the target has been incremental, and involves multiple actors with divergent interests. Still, the progression from abstract
target formulation towards a tangible foundation for concrete policy
implementation is traceable by examining a series of key documents
over time.
The contours of the Zero Growth Objective can be traced back at least
to the 2006 White Paper on Norwegian Climate Policy [Meld. St. 34,
2006–2007]. There the government put forward some initial goals for
climate-related policy in the transport sector, writing that there is a “need
to shift the use of transport modes towards public transport, walking and
cycling.” The overarching reference for this White Paper was the international 2 °C target, adopted by the Norwegian government a year prior.
While the 2 °C target is somewhat arbitrary and has been a source of controversy (Randalls 2010), it is referred to here and in most climate-related
Norwegian national policy documents in a way that sets the level of ambition and points to the global urgency. The 2 °C target, notwithstanding
the controversy over its origins and usefulness, is providing the framing for
Norwegian policy, including the Zero Growth Objective back in 2006.
That formulation—“shift the use of transport modes towards public
transport, walking and cycling”—can be found in all the key national climate policy documents from then on. The 2008 Climate Accord between
all parties in Parliament minus one, the 2012 White Paper on Norwegian
Climate Policy, and the 2012 Climate Accord, all use that same formulation with miniscule variations. Notably, however, the context in which
that formulation is placed gets increasingly concrete and binding. In the
2012 White Paper, it is actually formulated as a target (“The Government
has the goal that…”). Around the same time, the National Transport Plan
Working Group put forward a proposition as an official goal of Norwegian
transport policy, that the large cities should have zero growth except in
“public transport, walking and cycling,” and simultaneously coined the
6 DO CLIMATE TARGETS MATTER? THE ACCOUNTABILITY…