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Ten reasons to vote for Swedish Green Party in the forthcoming EU elections on 26th May 2019

Ayoub Hameedi

In my opinion, here are the top 10 reasons one should vote for Swedish Green Party in the forthcoming EU elections on 26 May 2019.

• Swedish Green Party wants to establish a global crisis commission for the climate  that would give advice to all of the countries in their work on climate.
• Swedish Green Party wants 100% renewable energy for the whole of EU so that coal, oil and gas would become a technology of the past.
• Paris Agreement made it mandatory for EU to ↓ CO2 emission by 40% till 2030. Only Sweden, France and Germany are on the way to achieve this goal.
• In 2017, Swedish Government signed New Climate Act. It bounds every Swedish government to take concrete actions to reduce GHGs emission and then to present a report of the taken actions to parliament. As an implementation, environment & climate budget was 5 billion sek in year 2018.
• Swedish Green Party places a huge emphasize on gender equality in all institutions across European Union.
• Swedish Green Party wants a strong collaboration among all countries in EU on the issues of environment, climate and human rights.
• With the existing practices, there would be more plastic in ocean than fish by 2050. A strong presence of Swedish Green Party in EU parliament means stronger legislation to reduce the consumption of plastic all across European Union.
  
• Old-growth forests are the nature’s tool to fight climate change. Voting for Swedish Green Party will be a right step in the right direction to ensure conservation of old-growth forests all across EU.
• Abiding by Paris Agreement to limit temperature ↑ to 1.5°C is a must. The best strategy to do so is to ↓ emissions. In 2018, EU reduced its CO2 emission in power sector by 5%.
• Each vote to green party is a vote to ensure sustainable Europe for everyone.

If you are convinced as a reader, please vote for Swedish Green Party in the forthcoming EU elections on 26th May 2019.

© Copyright 2019 Ayoub Hameedi. All rights reserved.

Policy on Environment in Sweden and How It can be Improved further

Ayoub Hameedi

The aim of this report is to highlight key points of the environmental policy in Sweden and how it can be improved further. The selected points are as follows:

i) Environment is an important focus area for the current government in Sweden. The administration of Prime Minister Stefan Löfven has sparred SEK 5 billion for environment and climate in the budget of fiscal year 2018. It must be appreciated that the financial support for “environment protection and nature conservation” has been doubled for the coming year.

ii) The current political administration plans to further promote sustainability within cities and has sparred SEK 1150 million to invest in different projects between 2018 – 2020. 

iii) In order to reduce the carbon footprint, the Government plans to establish a research institute to promote the use of cycling. The proposed institute will operate under the guidance of Swedish National and Transport Research Institute (VTI) .

iv) When it comes to mitigating climate change, the Government plans to take measures to reduce landsliding along the banks of Göta Älv river Valley and has allocated SEK 279 million to implement the strategies between 2018 – 2020.

v) The Government signed the Paris Climate Agreement on 22 April 2016 followed by its implementation on 12 November 2016. It has an ambitious plan to accomplish the targets of Paris Climate Agreement by 2045. To sustainably achieve the results, the Government introduced “New Climate Act” in parliament on 14 March 2017. The approved bill received majority of the votes in parliament and its implementation will take place from 1st January 2018 on-wards.  The new climate act will specify strategies adopted by Government to achieve goals concerning environment. It will also bind the government to present an annual report in parliament and to review strategies once in every four years to assess if the government is on track or otherwise.

vi) According to the Paris Climate Agreement, European Union is required to reduce its carbon emission by 40% till 2030. It is interesting to mention here that only Sweden, Germany and France are on track to achieve this goal by 2030.

vii) In 2014, hydropower produced around 42% of total electricity in  Sweden. The second largest source was nuclear power which produced another 41% of electricity followed by other thermal power sources with a power generation share of 9%, respecitvely. Finally, wind power generated 8% of the total electricity in 2014 in Sweden. From a policy perspective, there is a dire need to reduce reliance on nuclear energy technology by increasing the share of wind power in total energy mix of Sweden. There are a total of 8 nuclear reactors in operation in Sweden out of which two reactors namely Ringhals 1 and Ringhals 2 are expected to be decommissioned in 2020 and 2019, respectively.  This reflects a perfect opportunity for the Government to replace Ringhals 1 & 2 with wind farms of an equal generational capacity. It is pertinent to mention here that production of electricity from nuclear power produces nuclear waste which is expensive as well as dangerous to deal with. Nuclear waste needs to be safely buried in an isolated space for 100,000 years. France is building one such facility with a price tag of €25 billion, respectively. On the contrary, wind farms require technical maintenance and has bare minimum carbon emissions.

viii) The municipalities in Sweden have the right to veto the installation of wind turbines in their respective areas. The Government should find a sustainable solution so that municipalities would be encouraged to promote the installation of wind turbines in their respective areas. India installed a total of 3.6 GWs of wind power last year and is well on track to reach an ambitious target of 60 GWs of wind power by 2022. If India can do it, so can Sweden as it has the technical skills, knowledge and political will to increase the share of wind power in the overall energy mix of the country.

ix) The Government of Sweden has decided 16 environmental objectives to act upon namely reduced climate impact, clean air, natural acidification only, a non-toxic environment, a protective ozone layer, a safe radiation environment, zero eutrophication, flourishing lakes & streams, good quality groundwater, a balanced marine environment flourishing coastal areas & archipelagos, thriving wetlands, sustainable forests, a varied agricultural landscape, a magnificent mountain landscape, a good built environment and finally a rich diversity of plant and animal life. An ample access to financial resource is a must to achieve all of the aforementioned environmental objectives. A sustainable way to generate financial resource is to prioritize wind farms over nuclear power plants. Less reliance on nuclear power means less production of waste and less financial resources required to deal with it safely. The saved money due to reduced reliance on nuclear power can then be reinvested into local economy to sustainably achieve all of the aforementioned environmental objectives in Sweden.

x) The share of solar energy in the overall energy mix of Sweden is extremely low. Last year, it generated only 0.07% of the total electricity consumed in Sweden.  The goal of the Government should be to expand the installed capacity of solar pv in southern region as it has more suitable conditions than rest of the country. In comparison, Denmark has an installed solar pv capacity of 851 MWs, respectively.

Summing up all, the aforementioned points are key points when it comes to policy making on environment in Sweden. From a critical point of view, prioritizing wind farms over nuclear power will help the government to achieve goals related to environment in a sustainable manner. It must be appreciated that the current Government has taken some concrete steps in the area of environment. Doubling the financial support to environment protection & nature conservation and becoming carbon neutral by 2045 are two examples in this regard.

© Copyright 2017 Ayoub Hameedi. All rights reserved.

Denmark’s policy on Environment and How it can be improved further

Ayoub Hameedi

Danish government is taking actions to implement sustainability in every walk of life. A number of initiatives taken by the previous, current Political administration and Danes in general are as follows:

i) Danes have certainly displayed resource efficiency when it comes to the annual consumption of water. In 2016, each person in Denmark consumed 104 liters of water on daily basis. The amount consumed per person was 2 liters less than in comparison to the year before. If the same strategies would be replicated in the next FY, it would enable the administration to save €40  million which could then be channelized to upscale sustainability. Likewise, the administration treats the waste water before releasing it back into the nature. There are 1400 water treatment plants in operation in the country for this purpose.

ii) When it comes to power generation in Denmark, the political administration has efficiently reduced its reliance on coal as a source of power generation. In 2015, the total installed coal based power generation capacity was 2,219 MWs, which was reduced to 1,604 MWs at the end of 2016. Thus, a positive change of 615 MWs occurred as the aforementioned figure was taken away from the coal based source of power generation. The national Government of Denmark must be appreciated for this action as coal is certainly the most environmentally damaging source of power generation. A reduced reliance will not only be good for the environment but will be sustainable for Danish economy too. Coal is an extremely water intensive source of power generation as it takes around 530 – 2100 liters of water to produce a MW of electricity from a coal based power plant. It gives a ray of hope that the national government will keep on working to diminish the role of coal to a point where it will be completely out of picture when it comes to power generation in Denmark. By doing so, the Danish Government will certainly reduce the overall water consumption in the country too.

iii) Wind power has the ability to replace coal. It must be appreciated that the role of wind power has been increased sustainably from 18.7% in 2005 to 28.3% in 2011 to finally 42.1% in 2015. The total installed wind power capacity in Denmark was 5,080 MWs at the end of 2015 which was increased to a total figure of 5,251 MWs with an addition of 170.3 MWs by the time 2016 came to its end. It is important to point out here that the average wind speed in Denmark is 7.6 meters per second which highlights an even progressive role of wind power when it comes to electricity generation in the country. It is important to mention here that the energy policy makers in Denmark are planning to increase the share of wind power in total energy mix from over 40% at today’s level to 50% by 2020. Besides production of electricity in Denmark, wind industry plays a pivotal role when it comes to exports too. In FY 2014, it represented 5% of the total exports from Denmark and earned a revenue of DKK 53.5 billion, respectively.

iv) Likewise, the role of solar photovoltaics was also increased sustainably as 72 MWs of solar pv was added to an already installed capacity in 2016. As a result, the total installed capacity reached a figure of 851 MWs by the end of 2016. Energy policy makers in Denmark can set a target to upscale the already installed solar pv capacity to 1 GWs by 2020.

v) The Road Directorate in Denmark has initiated a “Cycle Fund” worth DKK 1 billion to promote bicycling in the country. The aim of this fund is to improve the conditions and to create a friendly environment where more and more people would be encouraged to use cycle. So far, the directorate has invested DKK 717 millions in different projects across Denmark. The cycle fund has further attracted an investment of more than DKK 2 billion for the promotion of cycling in the country.

vi) The national Government is preparing well to mitigate issues concerning climate change in Denmark. Cloud burst and flooding is one such example as it happened in 2011 in Denmark and caused damage worth insurance payments of DKK 6 billion in whole of the country. To mitigate climate change, the Government has increased collaboration with all of the municipalities in the country. A key initiative both municipalities and Danish Government has taken is that the former would increase financial investments in the sector of waste water treatment to mitigate the changing climate.

vii) The capital city of Denmark plans to go carbon neutral by 2025 and the policy makers are focusing on areas like energy provision, building retrofits, transport sector, sustainable waste management and public infrastructure on both short and long term basis. If the policy makers and political administration would achieve the aforementioned targets by 2025, Copenhagen, which became the capital of Denmark in 13th Century would be the first carbon-neutral capital in world.

Summing up all, both the previous & current governments in Denmark and Danes in general are taking required actions to promote sustainability. Less reliance on coal, increased efficiency in water sector, increase in wind power generation, cycle fund and a carbon neutral Copenhagen by 2025 are few examples in this regard. However, as per an article published in The Guardian newspaper, only Germany, France and Sweden are on track to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 40% till 2030. It must be appreciated that the current Government has certainly reduced its reliance on coal when it comes to power generation. However, more needs to be done.  As mentioned earlier, the policy makers can further minimize reliance on coal to a point where it becomes a technology from the past. The generation of electricity from wind farms can be a sustainable alternative to coal based source of power generation. On 22 February 2017, Denmark generated 97 GWs of electricity through wind energy technology which was enough to supply electricity to 10 million average households in European Union for a day. The country made history that day and it can make it happen again in future too.

© Copyright 2017 Ayoub Hameedi. All rights reserved.

Policy on Environment in Norway and What can world learn from it

Ayoub Hameedi

The political administration in Norway has taken numerous initiatives to promote sustainability in different sectors of economy. A brief overview of these initiatives is as follows:

i) The first and the foremost initiative is that the Norwegian administration generates 99% of its electricity through hydropower which is a clean energy resource in terms of power generation.

ii) The country has a strong electric vehicle (EV) program in place to reduce emissions related to the sector of transport. The Government of Norway introduced a package to promote the use of EV in the country. It included incentives like low annual road tax, no charges on toll roads or ferries, access to bus lanes, free municipal parking and numerous other benefits. As a result of this package, the market share of EV soared to  22% of total number of cars in Norway by the end of 2015.

From 2017 on-wards, the national government will delegate powers to local governments to decide whether EV’s would have access to bus lanes and free municipal parking or otherwise. Moreover, to discourage the Norwegians from the use of fossil fuel powered vehicle, the parliament has decided to sell only zero emission (electric vehicles or hydrogen powered vehicles) and low emission (plug-in hybrids) cars from 2025 on-wards. To achieve this target, the parliament has enforced the  polluter pays principle (PPP) where the one who would drive a car with higher emissions would pay more tax in comparison to the one who would choose to drive an eco-friendly car.

iii) Norway has an ambitious plan to build a cross country bicycling track with an investment of NOK 8 billion. The plan in consideration will help the administration to reduce transport related emissions in the country.

iv) At the end of 2015, the total installed wind power capacity in Norway was 873 MWs and wind farms as a sustainable source of power production generated around 1.7% of the total electricity consumed in Norway. It is important to mention here that the available off-shore wind power potential is extremely under utilized in Norway. As per Strategic Environment Assessment (SEA), the country has an estimated off-shore wind power potential of  4.6 GWs to 12.6 GWs which can produce 19 – 50 terrawatt hours of clean electricity on annual basis. This shows that there exist a gulf between an estimated potential of off-shore wind power in comparison to the installed wind power capacity in the country. It is understandable that the country already satisfy its power demand from hydropower however, an increase in power production through off-shore wind farms will certainly provide country with surplus electricity which could than be exported to neighboring countries for the sake of revenue earning. With a surplus of off-shore wind power, Norway can help Sweden to reduce its reliance on nuclear power as the latter already produces over 40% of its total electricity from nuclear power.

v) It must be appreciated that the national Government has launched “Innovation Norway” to promote creativity & development when it comes to implementing business-as-usual strategies in Norway. Almost 30% of the finances from this initiative has been allocated to promote eco-friendly ideas. It facilitates the start-ups with developing a business idea, how to build a business model, how to protect a unique idea, how to gain access to finances and most importantly how to act globally.

vi) The Sovereign Wealth Fund of Norway now stands at USD 1 trillion. The fund was launched in May 1996 as Government Pension Fund of Norway. The current political administration is responsible to manage shares worth USD 667 billion in 9,000 companies across the globe. The sovereign wealth fund provides Norway a window of opportunity to invest more money to promote renewable energy resources in particular and Sustainable development in general across the globe. By doing so, the incumbent government can follow the footsteps of ex Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland who was a key figure behind the concept of Sustainable Development.

vii) It must be appreciated that the Government of Norway made a financial contribution of USD 1 billion to “The Amazon Fund” which was initiated to reduce deforestation in the Amazon. Norwegian Government transferred the aforementioned amount from 2008 to 2015. In 2014, the rate of deforestation in Amazon was 5,012 square kilometers which was the lowest when compared with the deforestation statistics of 2004 which were 27,772 square kilometers, respectively.

viii) In order to promote growth in the Northern part of Norway, the government has formulated a policy referred to as “Norway’s Arctic Strategy“. Fisheries, aquaculture, tourism and reindeer husbandry are the main sources of revenue in this part of the country. In order to promote sustainable economic growth and to mitigate changing climate, the government is paying special attention to design a holistic strategy where local, national and regional forces would work together to implement sustainability. A key tool used by the national government is to bridge an existing gap between academia and business sector in north of Norway.

Summing up all, the Norwegian Government is playing its part when it comes to implementing sustainability. It must be appreciated that the country generates almost all of its electricity through clean energy resources namely hydro power and wind farms. Likewise, the country has a strong EV promotion program in place and it is further investing financial resource to develop a cross country bicycle lane to reduce greenhouse gases emission with reference to transport sector. However, an area where the Norwegian Government can make a remarkable difference is its Sovereign Wealth Fund. If more of this fund is invested to promote clean energy resources and sustainability, it will certainly create a sustainable world where temperature rise might be below 2 degree Celsius. Finally, this increased investment will create a world which would be socially equitable, economically viable and ecologically sustainable for us and our coming generations.

© Copyright 2017 Ayoub Hameedi. All rights reserved.

Greenland’s Policy on Environment and how it can be improved further

Ayoub Hameedi

Greenland is certainly amongst the most beautiful places on earth. The country itself is the world’s largest island. A unique characteristic of Greenland is that 80% of it is covered completely with an ice cap and several glaciers. Another interesting fact about Greenland is that the country is a part of North-American continent whereas, geopolitically shares the same philosophy as Europe. It is the least populated country in the world with a total figure of 57,000 inhabitants. Nuuk is the capital city of Greenland. A number of initiatives taken by the national Government of Greenland and recommendations which can further improve the existing scenario are as follows:

i) The country relies a lot on diesel powered generators to produce electricity. However, a sustainable transition is also on its way as the administration is gradually increasing the share of hydropower in the overall energy mix of Greenland. A 22.5 MWs hydropower project in the town of llulissat is one such initiative in this regard. It is important to mention here that the estimated untapped hydropower potential from glaciers in Greenland is approximately around 500 – 800 terrawatts hours on annual basis. In 2015, a lion’s share of the consumed energy around 59.3% was generated from fossil fuels followed by hydropower as the second largest source of electricity with a total share of 17.2% respectively. It must be appreciated that the share of hydropower in the overall consumed energy in Greenland has increased sustainably from 9.8% in 2010 to 17.2% in 2015. Greenland can certainly harvest more energy from the glaciers however, the factor of environmental sustainability is a must to consider.

ii) The political administration can also choose to harvest more energy from waste, too. Unfortunately in 2015, only 1.1% of the consumed heat was generated through waste in Greenland. It is pertinent to see waste as a valuable resource as it can certainly facilitate the political administration to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels. Besides a leap towards energy independence, it will certainly reduce the import bill of the national Government in Greenland. The policy makers can choose to import waste from surrounding countries in order to increase the share of electricity generated through waste. With effective policy making, Greenland might have the opportunity to receive trash from surrounding countries inexpensively as every country would like to get rid of its trash in a sustainable manner. On the contrary, it really depends on if the surrounding countries would themselves prefer to generate energy from their waste or otherwise. From a critical perspective, importing waste for power production is relatively inexpensive and sustainable than importing fossil fuels. The neighboring countries of Canada and Iceland are two examples as the time consumed in terms of transportation would be the least. Lower emissions with reference to import of waste and power production from trash will certainly create a win-win situation for policy makers in Greenland.

iii) Another idea is to import geothermal sourced electricity from Iceland. An available geothermal energy potential in Iceland is around 20 to 30 terrawatt hours on annual basis whereas, the country is only harvesting 4 terrawatt hours of the available potential. It means that there is still around 16 – 26 terrawatt hours of the untapped geothermal energy potential in Iceland which can certainly benefit Greenland when it comes to implementing sustainability in the sector of power production. For this purpose, the government of Greenland can motivate Icelandic government to harness more of its available geothermal energy potential and export it to Greenland. A bilateral agreement for a time span of 2 – 3 decades against a sustainable and profitable tariff can make this happen. At the moment, each town in Greenland generates its own electricity which can be a hindrance to the given proposal however, the national government can choose to set up a system in place which would allow the transmission of power from one town to another in a convenient manner.

iv) Wind power is a sector where policy makers can introduce a sustainable change in Greenland. It is important to highlight here that 20% of surface area (i.e. about the size of Sweden) is without ice and a part of it which lies in South can be used for this purpose. It is important to mention here that Iceland which lies slightly above in altitude than the southern tip of Greenland has an installed wind power capacity of 2 MWs which is expected to produce 5.4 GWs of clean electricity on annual basis. Likewise, Norway, Sweden and Finland have installed wind farms in areas which lies above the Arctic circle. By following the footsteps of the neighboring Nordic countries, Greenland can certainly diversify its sources of power production. An installation of 5 wind turbines each with an output capacity of 2 MWs will result in an overall installed wind power capacity of 10 MWs. Even though the proposed wind power capacity is too small to make a significant difference at national level but it will certainly steer power generation sector in right direction.

v) Exploration of oil in the west coast of Greenland would not be an economically feasible idea to pursue especially in a world with changing climate due to anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Rather, it would be more suitable for Greenland to develop expertise in an area relevant to clean energy technologies. Denmark serves as an excellent example for Greenland in this regard. In 2014, Denmark earned a revenue of DKK 53.5 billion through the export of wind energy technology and it was only possible due to Danish expertise in the wind power generation. The exports from wind energy sector formulates over 5% of the total exports from Denmark. Besides a fat revenue, wind power generates over 40% of total electricity in Denmark. Thus, if Greenland would replicate a similar strategy as Denmark, there are ample chances that the former might reduce its reliance on Danish subsides on annual basis.

vi) Eco-tourism provides an excellent opportunity for Greenland when it comes to increasing revenues. Whale watching can particularly be an activity to attract more tourists to Greenland. The summer season is particularly a peak time when over 15 different species of whales including fin whale, humpback whale and minke whale visits Greenland’s coastal territories. An effective advertisement campaign to attract more tourists is a must though.

The goal for policy makers in Greenland should be to see eco-tourism as a solution which is not only sustainable in nature but also profitable in its implementation too. It is important to mention here that tourism plays an important role when it comes to revenue generation in Iceland. The share of tourism in Icelandic economy has increased from 23.7% in 2012 to 39.2% in 2016. Tourism helped Iceland to earn ISK 239,544 billions in 2012 which then rose exponentially to ISK 466,287 billions in 2016, respectively. It means that the tourism related revenues in Iceland increased by ISK 226743 billions in a span of 4 years. So, if Iceland can boast its economic growth through tourism, so can Greenland however the goal should be the promotion of ecotourism which makes it sure that the nature and its offered services will be preserved for the coming generations too.

vii) Finally, an improved insulation of homes and the installation of energy efficient electrical appliances will certainly reduce the demand of heat and electricity in Greenland. A decrease in demand will certainly reduce the greenhouse gases emission too.

Summing up all, It must be appreciated that the government of Greenland has increased the share of hydropower in the overall energy mix of country however, a stronger emphasize should be placed on the import of waste for power production. Moreover, installation of wind turbines and developing specialization in clean energy technologies are key areas which can set the country on the path to energy and financial independence. A bilateral agreement with Iceland can facilitate the government to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels for the sake of power generation and to increase the revenues from eco-tourism in Greenland. The suggested recommendations will certainly take time and possibly billions of dollars when it comes to implementation but once implemented over a sustained period of time will certainly push Greenland towards financial independence for coming generations.

© Copyright 2017 Ayoub Hameedi. All rights reserved.

Iceland’s Policy on Environment and how It can help Greenland to produce clean electricity

Ayoub Hameedi

Iceland is certainly a country which took a leap from rags to riches in 20th century. The country was considered as one of the poorest in Europe however, the sustainable utilization of available renewable energy resources facilitated it to achieve an economic level where it’s masses can enjoy social equity, financial viability and environmental sustainability in most areas of life. It is interesting to mention here that only 2100 masses in Iceland (i.e. around 1% of the total population) are unemployed. The national government of Iceland has taken a number of initiatives to implement sustainability when it comes to policy making on environment. A few of those initiatives along with some of the suggestions as how things can be improved further are as follows:

i) The government of Iceland can seize the financial opportunity of clean energy production in Greenland. It can choose to invest money in the sector of power generation and can harvest benefits which would be both sustainable and profitable in the long run. The power production in Greenland in decentralized due to its geographical condition however a possible solution to this complex problem is to opt for lithium ion batteries designed by Tesla. One such example is a lithium ion battery facility in Southern California with a capacity of 20 MWs and an ability to supply 80 MWs of electricity in a span of 4 hours. The facility is capable to supply power to 15,000 homes for 240 minutes. A joint collaboration between the Governments of Greenland, Iceland and Tesla can help Iceland to supply clean electricity to Greenland to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels. Another example is the world’s largest lithium ion battery plant which is in construction phase but once completed will certainly help Southern Australia to satisfy its energy demand in a sustainable manner. Greenland has a total population of 57,000 thus, two such facilities connected with renewable energy sourced power plants will be sufficient to start a clean energy transition in Greenland. Besides clean electricity generation and revenue earnings, an investment in power production sector in Greenland will open further financial opportunities for the Government of Iceland to seize and seek benefit from.

ii) Unfortunately, half of the household waste in Iceland ends up in landfills and does not add much to the sustainability portfolio of Iceland as a country. Since power production in Iceland is powered by hydro and geothermal source and the prices are already quite inexpensive so it is not financially viable to use waste for power production. However, the Government of Iceland can install waste-to-energy (WTE) power plants in Greenland which would be connected to lithium-ion battery farm to store electricity and to supply it on demand. The Government of Iceland can then export its household waste to Greenland in order to be consumed by these Waste-to-energy (WTE) power plants. The mentioned strategy will facilitate the Icelandic government in two ways: first, it will allow Iceland to get rid of its waste in a sustainable manner. As a second point, the waste would be used as a renewable fuel to generate energy in Greenland which would then be sold to municipalities at a competitive price for revenue earnings. A fair and square deal will be an extremely appropriate offer for the government of Greenland to accept as it already generates a lion’s share of its electricity from fossil fuels. It must also be appreciated that the previous and current governments in Iceland have taken measures to reduce per capita waste and as a result the landfill use has decreased from 234 kgs / person in 2009 to 171 kgs / person in 2013 . 

From a critical point of view, the proposed solution will work in Greenland for three primary reasons. As a first point, the national government of Greenland needs to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels for the sake of power production and since it imports fossil fuel therefore, it comes at an expensive financial and environmental price tag. As a second point, the proposed solution will push Greenland in the direction of energy independence as the WTE power plants will be installed in Greenland and it would be Iceland’s responsibility to provide waste for power generation. Waste is a commodity which Iceland will keep on producing every day and will never run out of it. As a third point, the power production from waste will be price competitive than power production through fossil fuel as the source is readily available and inexpensive to attain so it will naturally attract the attention of policy makers in Greenland.

iii) It must be appreciated that the country generates around 75% of its electricity from hydropower as it is rich with hydro resources. Iceland has an estimated available hydropower potential of 30,000 GWhs on annual basis whereas, the administration harnesses around 12,500 GWhs on annual basis. The gulf between the two figures show that the share of hydropower in Iceland can be increased further and exported for the sake of revenue earnings.

iv) Likewise, Iceland produces around 25.5% of its electricity from geothermal resources. The available geothermal energy resource in Iceland is around 20 – 30 terrawatt hours whereas, it harvest only 4 terrawatt hours of it. Thus a vast potential of 16 – 26 terrawatt hours of electricity is still untapped and can be harnessed and exported to Greenland for revenue generation. It is interesting to mention here that the utilization of geothermal energy in Iceland started in 1907 when a farmer installed a concrete pipe to harness the heat from a hot spring following underneath his farm. This initiative gave confidence to another farmer who did the same thing few years later. However, large scale utilization of geothermal energy took place as the result of oil crisis which occurred in the year of 1970. It was a point when the policy makers across the globe started to explore renewables as a source of power production. The policy makers in Iceland did the same and kept on working on the idea to generate power and heat from geothermal source. As a result of continuous effort, Iceland today generates 1/4th of its power from geothermal source. The gradual transition to geothermal source from oil has facilitated the Governments in Iceland to save USD 8 billion over a span of 3 decades.

v) It must be appreciated that the sector of tourism has flourished over the last few years in Iceland. The revenues from tourism sector soared from ISK 239,544 billions in 2012 to ISK 466,287 billions in 2016. When translated into percentage, it represented a share of over 23% in 2012 which was raised to over 39% in 2016, respectively. However, the biggest challenge with this sort of exponential growth in the sector of tourism is to increase the share of eco-tourism in the overall percentage. The basic idea of eco-tourism is to harvest revenues from nature through tourism without damaging the ecosystem and it’s services. Another key point is to sustainably transfer the same ecosystem and its services to future generations too. Policy makers in Iceland needs to keep an eye to increase the share of ecotourism in the overall revenue from tourism. Besides that since tourism is now a key force behind the economic progress in Iceland therefore, the Government of Iceland can also help the Government of Greenland to do the same. An appropriate policy in place will certainly provide financial benefits to both Iceland and Greenland.

vi) It must be appreciated that the registration of electric vehicles in Iceland has seen an exponential growth this summer as 1150 new ev’s were registered during May – August 2017. This number was three times to what it was during the same time period last year.

Summing up all, the Government of Iceland is taking actions to promote sustainability however, still there are few areas where improvement needs to be introduced. It is unfortunate to mention that  half of the household waste in Iceland ends up in landfill. The Icelandic government can use this to generate energy in Greenland and to earn some revenue through the sale of clean electricity to the municipalities in Greenland. This will help the Government of Iceland to sustainably transform its waste into sheer revenue and profits. Similarly, an increased share of eco-tourism in Iceland should be prioritized so that the ecosystems and it’s available services would be transfer to the coming generations too. Finally, developing waste-to-energy power plants in Greenland will help the Government of Iceland to diversify its sources of revenue which will be both economically profitable and environmentally sustainable in the long-run.

© Copyright 2017 Ayoub Hameedi. All rights reserved.