Electric cars fill the streets of Oslo, the capital of Norway, subsidized by government revenue from fossil fuels. [Photo=Sustain Europe]

Vijay Jayaraj, Research Associate at the CO2 Coalition in the United StatesNorway did not join the European Union (EU) from its inception in 1994. While neighboring Nordic countries Sweden, Denmark, and Finland joined, and the Norwegian government also wished to participate, the public rejected it through a referendum.

The primary reasons cited were sovereignty over fishing rights in the North Sea and the production of oil and natural gas. The Norwegian people did not permit the EU to control the resources of their own seas.

As a result, while the EU is suffering from economic crises and hardship, caught in the dogma of carbon neutrality, Norway is prospering by actively pursuing oil and natural gas development, having avoided the green energy trap pressured by the United Nations.

Avoiding the Green Trap to Develop Oil and Natural Gas

Norway's fossil fuel production is heading towards its peak with the discovery of the Johan Castberg oil field.

Located in the Barents Sea, this field is approximately 100 km north of the 20-year-old Snøhvit natural gas field and is expected to become a mega-production site, estimated to produce 450 to 650 million barrels over 30 years and extract up to 220,000 barrels per day.

Investment does not stop here. The Norwegian government continues to pursue new oil and gas exploration despite protests from the United Nations.

The target areas are known as "Frontier Areas," which are largely unexplored offshore oil fields expected to yield high risks and high rewards.

When environmentalists tried to curb the UK's North Sea oil production, Norway responded, "If you don't drill, we will."

Companies leading drilling on the Norwegian continental shelf plan to invest approximately $25 billion (about 36.25 trillion won) in oil and gas projects by 2026. This is an increase of about $2 billion (about 2.9 trillion won) from previous estimates due to rising development costs.

Norway became Europe's largest natural gas supplier in 2022, surpassing Russia, and is expected to maintain this position going forward.

Even with a 17% increase in development costs to boost natural gas production in the latter half of 2024, the Norwegian people welcome it, seeing no better national wealth creation project.

The irony is that despite actively producing fossil fuels, environmentalists frequently cite Norway's high electric vehicle adoption rate as a model case.

Awakening from the Climate Nightmare Leads to True 'Green'

The facade of a 'green utopia' is maintained through deception. The gleaming electric cars that fill the streets of Oslo, the Norwegian capital, are subsidized by government revenue from fossil fuels.

A lush green park in Oslo, the capital of Norway. [Photo=Sustain Europe]

The fact that the 'model nation' favored by climate activists is financing itself with the very substances they despise is a contradiction that invites the world's ridicule.

When Norwegians charge their electric cars, they are, in effect, being subsidized by oil companies that extract fossil fuels from the North Sea. The 'green' lifestyle enjoyed by Norwegians is a luxury purchased with petrodollars.

Norway, with six months of winter annually, was once cold and impoverished, with some ancestors living as Vikings (pirates). However, Norway is now the fourth wealthiest nation in Europe, with a per capita income exceeding $90,000.

This figure is more than double that of Germany and France, which lead the EU. Norway's sovereign wealth fund is the largest in the world. As of November 2025, its assets are valued at over $2 trillion (approximately 2,898.24 trillion won). On paper, this amounts to approximately $340,000 (about 493 million won) per Norwegian citizen.

Currently, the EU is pursuing economic self-destruction under the guise of saving the planet, ensnared by a pseudo-religion of 'climate crisis and carbon neutrality.' The prosperity enjoyed by the Norwegian people is possible because they protected their energy sovereignty from the EU and because many of its citizens have awakened from the climate nightmare.

Norway is one of the countries where "The Inconvenient Facts: The Earth's Climate Science That Al Gore Doesn't Want You to Know" by Gregory Wrightstone, president of the CO2 Coalition in the United States, is widely distributed.

This book, which clearly demonstrates through climate history and scientific facts that climate change is merely a natural phenomenon of the Earth and became an Amazon bestseller, was translated and distributed in Norwegian immediately upon its publication in 2017. Of course, it was also translated into Korean in 2021.

Korea is a leading industrial nation worldwide. Numerous industries, including steel, petrochemicals, automobiles, and semiconductors, are inevitably dependent on energy.

Korea's future hinges on whether it will fall into a green charade, chanting climate incantations and following the path of self-destruction that the EU is on, or whether it will choose the path of wisdom as chosen by the Norwegian people. It is hoped that the Korean people will awaken from the climate nightmare before it is too late.

Research Associate at the CO2 Coalition

 Park Seok-soon, Professor Emeritus at Ewha Womans University and former Director of the National Institute of Environmental ResearchThis column was first published on December 14, 2025, on American Greatness (www.amgreatness.com). It was translated and revised in cooperation with the author by Park Seok-soon, Professor Emeritus at Ewha Womans University and a member of the CO2 Coalition. Professor Park is currently serving as the Korean Ambassador for the Global Thinkers Initiative (Clintel), the President of the Free Environment Forum, and operates the YouTube channel ‘Park Seok-soon’s Environment TV.’