Norway should be in the forefront of combating climate problems. The government wants to play an active role internationally but we should also work on reducing emissions here at home. 
	
	
 "The government wants to point to a significant reduction of climate gate emissions before 2005 after Norway has ratified the Kyoto Protocol in the course of the year," Environmental Protection Minister Borge Brende has written. Between now and 2008, the government's environmental initiative will be given concrete form in a report to the Storting this spring, in which an early quota system will occupy a central place. 
	
	
 Norway and the other rich countries have a moral responsibility to achieve real reductions. Regardless of what Norway and other countries manage to do in this respect, we must prepare ourselves for climate changes. According to the United Nations' climate panel, in the next 10 to 20 years changes in the climate will be almost unaffected by what we do in the way of initiatives in the next few years to reduce emissions of climate gases. The explanation is that the increased concentration of climate gases in the atmosphere and the slowness of the climate system will make a certain degree of global warming unavoidable. 
	
	
 In recent years the RegClim research project, under the aegis of the Norwegian Research Council, has worked to estimate the way the climate will develop in Norway in 30 to 50 years. The main conclusions were that the trend toward warmer weather and more precipitation will presumably continue. 
	
	
 The climate changes will be different from region to region. The western part of Norway will experience the markedly greatest increase in precipition in the fall. North Norway will also get more precipitation in the fall but warmer temperatures in the winter. In the eastern part of Norway the biggest increase in precipitation will be in the winter. In coming years the winters will be less snowy but greener and wetter. 
	
	
 These extrapolations of the state of the climate are not completely reliable. Even if we can say with great certainty that climate changes will come, we need more knowledge about the effects . 
	
	
 How must local societies organize themselves if a couple of hurricanes every year become normal? How should we prepare ourselves for more and bigger floods? What consequences will the increase in temperature have for raising livestock and fish? Will climate changes produce new types of pests that will create problems? For the next few years our goal is to both gain more knowledge and put together good preparedness strategies. 
	
	
 All the world's countries and peoples are affected by climate changes but it is the poor countries that are being hit the hardest. Even if developing countries have contributed to these climate problems to just a slight degree, they will nevertheless bear the greatest burden. 
	
	
 Norway and other industrialized countries, on the other hand, have fairly good prospects of grappling with climate changes because we have an economy to put necessary measures to work. We must avoid seeing environmental problems increase the social differences in the world. For that reason the rich countries-those making the climate worse-must go on the offensive to solve the problems we ourselves have created. 
	
	
 In the Sem statement the coalition government warned of a more offensive climate policy. An offensive climate police will bring costs with it. But if we do not make these expenditures now, the bill for the generations to come will be even bigger. This our conscience ought not to permit us. 
	
	
 The challenge will be to introduce the most cost-effective climate policy possible and at the same time take Norwegian business and industry's competitiveness into consideration. 
	
	
 The elements in a more offensive climate policy are: 
	
	
 Initiatives between now and 2008: The government wants to show demonstrable progress in the reduction of climate emissions by 2005. We are setting the stage for Norway to get national initiatives under way earlier than we are required to under the Kyoto Protocol. The government's policy statement states, among other things, that the establishment of a national quota system should be speeded up. 
	
	
 Implementation of the Kyoto Protocol. The government wants to set the stage for Norway to ratify the Kyoto Protocol next year. There is consensus that a broad quota system with international quota exchange should be used to achieve our emission responsibilities during the first obligatory period, 2008-2012. 
	
	
 Pursue the international climate negotiations. The consensus that has been achieved internationally about the period 2008-2012 is just the first step down the road. For later periods, sharper reductions are necessary and there is also the need to get more countries to take on climate obligations. Norway still wants to play an active role in this process. 
	
	
 The report to the Storting that the government is preparing for the spring will further specify which measures will be implemented between now and 2008. A proposal for an early quota system will be at the center of this report. There exists the potential for significant reductions in climate gas emissions in Norway that will not produced with today's resources. The use of quotas will be a cost-effective means of achieving better results. 
	
	
 A quota is a right to emit a certain quantity of climate gases during a certain period and this right can be sold on a market. The advantages are that the authorities can set a ceiling on all emissions. Businesses that are obligated by a quota can then choose whether they want to buy those quotas they need or introduce measures to reduce emissions. 
	
	
 Many countries, among them Denmark, Great Britain, and Sweden, are already under way developing early quota systems. In addition to being effective, an early quota system would also give business and industry useful experience before the international quota system following the Kyoto Protocol comes into effect in 2008. 
	
	
 In the government's work to put the quota system into shape in Norway, we are now discussing a number of problems. Some of these are: 
	
	
 The range-which gases and sectors should be included in the quota system, and how businesses exposed to competition should be dealt with. 
	
	
 Measures about emissions-how much all of those obligated by a quota can emit. 
	
	
 Fines for exceeding the quota limit. 
	
	
 The possibility of cooperating with other countries' early quota systems. 
	
	
 I am pleased that there now seems to be broad political consensus that in Norway as well we should get under way with an early quota system. 
	
	
 Regardless of the shape of the measures in Norway, Norwegian businesses as well ought to contribute to reducing emissions in poor countries. The green development mechanism under the Kyoto Protocol opens the way for businesses from industrialized countries to pay for the introduction of more environmentally-friendly technology in polluting industries in developing countries. This mechanism can already be used-and before 2008, too. In addition to producing climate benefits, such measures will contribute to development and reduced local pollution in poor countries. 
	
	
 Norway is one of the countries in this world that has earned the most from fossil fuels. This gives us a special responsibility in climate policy-not least vis-a-vis the poorest countries.