Décarbonisation

What could be a better start for the celebration of the French-Norwegian Chamber of Commerce’s 100 years anniversary than welcoming 100 companies wishing to learn more about Norwegian initiatives, best practices on Decarbonisation and why Oslo has been elected the European Green Capital 2019?

In this context, the French-Norwegian Chamber of Commerce organised a learning expedition on decarbonisation for a delegation of 100 companies, customers and partners of BNP Paribas Fortis on the 6^th and 7^th of February 2019.

During this two-day expedition, the participants visited Vulkan, an innovative eco district redesigned in 2004. As of today, this area has implemented many new features centred on sustainability and environmental compliances. The participants had the opportunity to discover several transformations, including the local power-generating station with geothermal wells and original facades equipped with solar panels. 

Mrs. Kristin Halvorsen, CEO of Norway's leading Institute for Climate Change (CICERO) and former minister of Finance and Education, explained Norway's dilemma and how CICERO contributes to tackling global warming with opportunities and solutions and strengthens the international climate cooperation. The dynamic duo from Endrava, Eric Rambech and Valentin Vandenbussche, highlighted the reasons why Oslo was awarded the European Green Capital in 2019 and its ambitious climate targets: to cut carbon emissions by 36% in 2020 and by 95% in 2030. In the second part of the morning session, the 100 participants had the opportunity to visit Vulkan's area in order to discover the sustainability initiatives set up within the innovative district.

After a lunch in Mathallen with savoury duck sandwiches from our CCFN member Galopin, the participants discovered Oslo Science Park where StartupLab’s main offices are based for an afternoon dedicated to Energy Efficiency and Green Mobility, a great opportunity to discover more about Norway's electric car revolution (presented by Synnøve Grøndahl, adviser analysis consultancy at the Norwegian EV Association) and the Yara Birkeland’s project of the world’s first autonomous containerships (presented by Lise Winther, Senior Innovation Manager at Yara).

A selection of start-ups from StartupLab had the opportunity to present their innovative solutions contributing to a more sustainable future to the 100 companies. Many interesting projects on decarbonisation were presented, such as those of Kubeenergy, ClimateSeed, Zaptec, OsloBike and Chooose.

In the evening, the delegation met at Frognerseteren restaurant to enjoy a typical Norwegian meal and to discuss further the different inputs learned during this first day.

On the second day, the participants took part in a visit of the city by electrical buses from Oslo’s public transport operator Ruter. Kristoffer and Line, the two guides, brought the participants to the two main areas of this tour: the EV garage near Akershus Fortress and the EV bus charging station.

After a refreshing visit, the participants went to BI Norwegian Business School and had the great opportunity to listen to Prof. Jørgen Randers' inspiring view on how to successfully combine happy use of oil and gas with the global climate change policies. In the afternoon, the participants enjoyed a last session dedicated to CCS (Carbon Capture Storage) with presentations from Johnny Stuen, CCS-advisor at Oslo Kommune, Cristel Lambton, Subsea Manager at Equinor, Per Brevik, Director Sustainability and Alternative Fuels at Heidelberg Cement Northern Europe, Damien Dallemagne, Secretary General at CO2 Value, and Daniel Marenne, Energy Solution Architect at Engie.

We would like to thank all the speakers for sharing their knowledge and projects for decarbonisation, as well as the event’s partners for a great discovery of Oslo's main pro-decarbonisation areas.

Follow the last news about the event on our social media via #XpeditionOslo.

See more about this Learning Expedition in pictures here.