“Three parties in Iceland pass the climate-change test”

An Icelandic climate-change activism group has put together a ranked list of climate-change policy among Icelandic political parties in the run-up to general elections later this month.

‘Paris 1.5’ refers to itself as an activism group whose aim is to ensure Iceland contributes towards halting global warning to 1.5°C.

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The study looks at stated party policy and other direct and indirect indicators on climate-change policy among the seven parties that polls suggest are most likely to return MPs to the Icelandic parliament (‘Alþingi’) this autumn.

“We also e-mailed all seven parties asking for more detail on the various aspects [of climate-change policy] – some answered, some didn’t,” reads the webpage describing the study (link in Icelandic).

The factors looked at were the following:

• Is the party for or against oil processing in Drekasvæðið (between Iceland and Jan Mayen)?
• Does the party have quantitative and/or time goals for reducing CO ₂ emissions?
• Does the party provide for carbon fees or green incentives as regards greenhouse-gas emissions?
• Does the party have proposals for infrastructure changes to deal with the problem?
• Does the party have proposals for forestry and reclaiming marshland?
• Has the party or its candidates brought up the issue of climate change in the run-up to the elections?
• Other general points about climate change issues.

The seven parties involved in the Paris 1.5 score as follows:

“As things stand, three parties pass the test [50%+], with the Pirates and Regeneration not far off. It should, however, be noted that the Pirates’ electoral system contains a very ambitious policy which, if approved, could take them into the lead,” writes the Paris 1.5 team.

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Paris 1.5 has provided an e-mail address for comments from political parties not included in the study and parties who feel they have been misrepresented. The group intends to recalculate the scores one week before the elections.