Vice Chancellor Habeck visits Norway for talks on energy Talks with Prime Minister Støre and representatives of Norwegian energy companies

Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action Dr Robert Habeck is travelling to Norway’s capital Oslo today to hold talks with politicians, including Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, and representatives of Norwegian firms. This is the first of a series of trips abroad with the aim to diversify Germany’s energy imports and to secure future sales of green hydrogen and related basic products. In this context, imports of liquified natural gas (LNG) and close cooperation on the expansion of the use of hydrogen technologies and other environmental technologies will play an important role.

Prior to his visit, Minister Habeck said: "Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine has made it very clear that we must reduce our dependency on Russian energy imports. To this end, we need to accelerate the energy transition, expand the use of renewable energy, and considerably increase energy efficiency. This is key to an affordable, independent and secure energy supply in the future. However, future energy supply must also be climate-friendly. In the short term, we will need more LNG for a certain period of time. At the same time, we now also need to further speed up the upcoming transition from conventional natural gas to green hydrogen and hydrogen derivatives like ammonia. The best way to do this is through cooperation at European and international level. We are thus setting the course for climate neutrality at an early stage and actively shaping the transition to zero-carbon, green economies – in Germany and in as many regions of the world as possible."