Ellen Christine Hambro (born 20 July 1964) is a Norwegian civil servant.

Early career

Hambro earned a law degree (

cand.jur. Candidate of Law (Latin: ''candidatus/candidata juris/iuris'') is both a graduate law degree awarded to law students in the Nordic region as well as an academic status designation for advanced Law School students in German-speaking countries. ...

) from the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo ( no, Universitetet i Oslo; la, Universitas Osloensis) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the highest ranked and oldest university in Norway. It is consistently ranked among the top universit ...

in 1991. She joined the Ministry of the Environment the same year and in 1997 became head of her department, where she worked on waste management issues. Norway's industrial employers credited her with raising the percentage of waste recycled from almost nothing to about 70%. In 2004 she moved to the

Ministry of Agriculture and Food An agriculture ministry (also called an) agriculture department, agriculture board, agriculture council, or agriculture agency, or ministry of rural development) is a ministry charged with agriculture. The ministry is often headed by a minister ...

, where she worked as deputy under-secretary of state.

Directorship

Since 1 January 2007 she has directed Norway's Climate and Pollution Agency (before 2010, called the Pollution Control Authority). She is the first woman to hold the post. Green Warriors of Norway expressed approval of her appointment. During Hambro's directorship, SFT imposed a fine of on Autoretur, which was in charge of handling car wrecks. Hambro cited the company's inadequate return system, and warned of another fine if this was not remedied. In an interview with ''

Teknisk Ukeblad ''Teknisk Ukeblad'' (''TU'', en, Technical Weekly Magazine) is a Norwegian engineering magazine. The magazine has its headquarters in Oslo, Norway. History and profile ''TU'' has appeared weekly since 13 April 1883 and was published by Ingeniørf ...

'', Hambro admitted mistakes by the Pollution Authority before and after the Vest Tank explosion in

Gulen is a municipality in the southwestern part of Vestland county, Norway. It is part of the traditional district of Sogn. The administrative center of the municipality is the village of Eivindvik. Other villages in Gulen include Brekke, Byrknes, ...

, May 24, 2007. She said that the pollution authority ought to be better at investigating possible breaches of safety regulations, and that they could have offered better information to the Gulen community. She was also highly critical of the Vest Tank company, accusing them of lying and illegal waste management. Vest Tank responded by suing her for defamation. Hambro was sceptical of the merger between

Statoil Equinor ASA (formerly Statoil and StatoilHydro) is a Norwegian state owned enterprise, state-owned multinational energy company headquartered in Stavanger. It is primarily a petroleum company, petroleum company, operating in 36 countries with ad ...

and the oil and gas division of

Norsk Hydro Norsk Hydro ASA (often referred to as just ''Hydro'') is a Norwegian aluminium and renewable energy company, headquartered in Oslo. It is one of the largest aluminium companies worldwide. It has operations in some 50 countries around the world an ...

, stating that the companies would no longer need to compete on being environmentally friendly. She was also critical of

StatoilHydro Equinor ASA (formerly Statoil and StatoilHydro) is a Norwegian state-owned multinational energy company headquartered in Stavanger. It is primarily a petroleum company, operating in 36 countries with additional investments in renewable energy. ...

's application to increase emissions at their

LNG Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas (predominantly methane, CH4, with some mixture of ethane, C2H6) that has been cooled down to liquid form for ease and safety of non-pressurized storage or transport. It takes up about 1/600th the volu ...

plant at Meløya in Hammerfest. In 2013 her agency was merged to form the

Norwegian Environment Agency The Norwegian Environment Agency ( no, Miljødirektoratet) was created on 1 July 2013 through a merger of the Norwegian Directorate for Nature Management and the Norwegian Climate and Pollution Agency.Carl Joachim Hambro and granddaughter of

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

politician Carl Joachim Hambro, and is a member of the family that established

Hambros Bank Hambros Bank was a British bank based in London. The Hambros bank was a specialist in Anglo-Scandinavian business with expertise in trade finance and investment banking, and was the sole banker to the Scandinavian kingdoms for many years. The Bank ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hambro, Ellen 1964 births Living people University of Oslo alumni Norwegian civil servants Directors of government agencies of Norway