The Green Party ( nb, Miljøpartiet De Grønne, nn, Miljøpartiet Dei Grøne, sme, Birasbellodat Ruonát, ) is a

centre-left Centre-left politics lean to the left on the left–right political spectrum but are closer to the centre than other left-wing politics. Those on the centre-left believe in working within the established systems to improve social justice. The c ...

green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 Nanometre, nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. The party holds three seats in the

Parliament of Norway The Storting ( no, Stortinget ) (lit. the Great Thing) is the supreme legislature of Norway, established in 1814 by the Constitution of Norway. It is located in Oslo. The unicameral parliament has 169 members and is elected every four years bas ...

(gaining 3.8% in the

2021 elections Many elections occurred in 2021. The National Democratic Institute maintains calendar of elections around the world * 2021 United Nations Security Council election * 2021 national electoral calendar * 2021 local electoral calendar Africa * 2021 ...

) and also has representation in

municipal A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

councils and

county councils A county council is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a county. This term has slightly different meanings in different countries. Ireland The county councils created under British rule in 1899 continue to exist in Irela ...

(gaining 6.8% in the 2019 elections). The Green Party advocates

green politics Green politics, or ecopolitics, is a political ideology that aims to foster an ecologically sustainable society often, but not always, rooted in environmentalism, nonviolence, social justice and grassroots democracy. Wall 2010. p. 12-13. It b ...

, and has been described as centre-left by academics and voters. The party itself claims distance from the two dominant right-wing and left-wing political blocks, jointly denominated as "the fossil block", and have stated their refusal to form a government with any parties that will continue to drill for

oil in the North Sea North Sea oil is a mixture of hydrocarbons, comprising liquid petroleum and natural gas, produced from petroleum reservoirs beneath the North Sea. In the petroleum industry, the term "North Sea" often includes areas such as the Norwegian Sea and ...

. The Green Party is a member of the

European Green Party The European Green Party (EGP), also referred to as European Greens, is the European political party that represents national parties from across Europe who share Green values. The European Greens works closely with the Greens–European Fre ...

and the

Global Greens The Global Greens (GG) is an international network of political parties and movements which work to implement the Global Greens Charter. It consists of various national Green political parties, partner networks, and other organizations associated ...

, and was founded with the

German Greens Alliance 90/The Greens (german: Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, ), often simply referred to as the Greens ( ), is a green political party in Germany. It was formed in 1993 as the merger of The Greens (formed in West Germany in 1980) and Alliance 90 (fo ...

as its stated model. It maintains close ties to other Green parties including the German Greens and the Swedish Greens. It is led by

Arild Hermstad Arild Hermstad (born 15 October 1966) is a Norwegian politician for the Green Party, who has served as the party leader since 2022. He previously served as Party spokesperson, alongside Une Bastholm, from 2018 to 2020, and then the deputy leade ...

History

The process of forming a new national green party in Norway was initiated in December 1984, with the official launch in 1988. Among the pioneers were the late philosopher

Arne Næss Arne Dekke Eide Næss (; 27 January 1912 – 12 January 2009) was a Norwegian philosopher who coined the term " deep ecology", an important intellectual and inspirational figure within the environmental movement of the late twentieth centur ...

, peace researcher

Johan Galtung Johan Vincent Galtung (born 24 October 1930) is a Norwegian sociologist who is the principal founder of the discipline of peace and conflict studies. He was the main founder of the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) in 1959 and served as its ...

, and the philosopher

Sigmund Kvaløy Setreng Sigmund Kvaløy Setreng (20 September 1934 – 27 May 2014) was a Norwegian philosopher, illustrator, mountain climber, environmental activist and politician. He was born in Trondheim. Among his publications are ''Musikk-kritikk og kommunikas ...

. In the local elections between 1991 and 2009 the Green Party had 6 - 8 representatives elected each time. In the national elections the party never exceeded 0.5% support. Since 2005, the Greens have seen a significant membership rise, with the new members coming from a wide variety of other parties, including the seven established parliamentary parties. In the municipal elections of 2011, the party saw its first local breakthrough, having garnered close to 22,000 votes on a national basis. Two years later, during the campaign for the 2013 general election, the party saw a significant rise in support in the opinion polls. The Greens were widely expected to gain parliamentary representation to some extent. In the election, the Greens gathered over 79,000 votes, making them the 8th biggest party in the country. This vote count translates to 2.8 percent of the vote.

Rasmus Hansson Rasmus Johan Michael Hansson (born 4 September 1954) is a Norwegian biologist, civil servant, environmental activist and a former national spokesperson for the Green Party. He led the Norwegian chapter of World Wide Fund for Nature from 2000 to 2 ...

, the party's top candidate from

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

was elected to parliament, becoming the first ever Green MP. In the local elections of 2015 the Green Party overtook the 4% nationally for the first time in its history and got the third place in Oslo.

Ideology

The Green Party is one of the global ecologist and environmentalist political parties and movements. As a member of the pan-European

, the Norwegian Greens subscribe to social progressivism and social justice. The main focus of the party is environmental protection and ecological sustainability. The party seeks to introduce a tax on wasteful consumption, and to reorganise the food industry. The Greens have also pledged support for a reform in the agrarian industry, increasing the production of organic crops and strengthening the eco-friendly agricultural sector. The Green party seeks to reduce the Norwegian petroleum extraction in order to counteract serious

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...

. The proposal is to stop extraction by 2035.

Leadership

Arild Hermstad and Une Aina Bastholm in October 2018

Spokespersons

*Ove Braaten, 1989–1991 *Olav Benestad, 1991–1992 *Jan Bojer Vindheim, 1993–1996 /1997–2001 *Ane Aadland, 1995–1997 *Arne Gravanes, 1996–1997 *Birte Simonsen, 1998–1999 *Brynmor Evans, 1998–1999 *Gunter Schotz, 1999–2000 *Lisa Fröyland, 1999–2002 *Tove Funderud Johansen, 2000–2001 *Birte Simonsen, 2002–2004 *Brynmor Evans, 2004–2005 *Trude Malthe Thomassen, 2004–2007 *Gaute Busch, 2005–2006 *Mats Indrefjord Høllesli, 2006–2007 *Birte Simonsen, 2007–2008 *Sondre Båtstrand, 2008–2011 *

Hanna Marcussen Hanna Elise Marcussen (born 4 September 1977) is a Norwegian politician for the Green Party. She currently serves as Oslo’s City Commissioner for Urban Development. Career She served as national spokesperson for the Norwegian Green Party in the ...

, 2008–2014 *Harald August Nissen, 2011–2014 *Hilde Opoku, 2014–2016 *

, 2016–2018 *

, 2018–2020 * Une Aina Bastholm, 2016–2020

Leaders

* Une Aina Bastholm, 2020–22 *

, 2022–

Deputy leaders

, 2020– *Kriss Rokkan Iversen, 2020–2022 *Ingrid Liland, 2022– * Lan Marie Berg, 2022–

Electoral results

Notes

References

External links

Official site
{{Green parties Green parties in Europe 1988 establishments in Norway European Green Party Environmental organisations based in Norway Political parties established in 1988 Global Greens member parties Political parties in Norway