Ola Elvestuen (born 9 October 1967) is a Norwegian politician for the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

who served as Minister of Climate and the Environment from 2018 to 2020. He was also the party's deputy leader from 2008 to 2020 (2008–2012 as second deputy and 2012–2020 as first deputy), and has been an MP for Oslo since 2013.

Personal life

He is married to Greta Elvestuen. He is a younger brother of illustrator

Per Elvestuen Per Elvestuen (born 14 August 1962) is a Norwegian illustrator. He was born in Gjøvik as a brother of Ola Elvestuen. He worked for the newspaper ''Dagens Næringsliv'' from 1988 to 2009, then for ''E24 Næringsliv''. He is also a communications ...

Political career

Party politics

In 2008, he became second deputy leader of his party, and then first deputy in 2012, which he was until 2020.

Local politics

On the local level Elvestuen is a member of

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 ...

city council, and served as city commissioner for public transport and environmental affairs from 2011 until his election to Parliament in 2013.

Parliament

Elvestuen was a member of the

Storting 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 ...

from

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

, and served as leader of the Energy and the Environment Committee since 2013. He has been re-elected to Parliament since. Prior to this, he served as a deputy representative to the

from Oslo during from 2001 to 2013.

Minister of Climate and the Environment

After the Liberal Party entered the

Solberg Cabinet The Solberg Cabinet was the government of the Kingdom of Norway, headed by Conservative Party leader Erna Solberg as Prime Minister from 16 October 2013 to 14 October 2021. The government was appointed by King Harald V on 16 October 2013 follo ...

, Elvestuen was appointed minister of climate and the environment on 17 January 2018, succeeding the Conservatives' Vidar Helgesen. In April 2018, he announced that the government would be adding 2 million NOK to the "Fishing for litter" scheme for 2018, in response to plastic being discovered at a bird mountain in Runde. In June, he announced that the government would approve the establishment of Lofotodden National Park in

Nordland Nordland (; smj, Nordlánnda, sma, Nordlaante, sme, Nordlánda, en, Northland) is a county in Norway in the Northern Norway region, the least populous of all 11 counties, bordering Troms og Finnmark in the north, Trøndelag in the south, ...

, which had been proposed by the municipalities of

Moskenes Moskenes is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. The municipality comprises the southern part of the island of Moskenesøya in the traditional district of Lofoten. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Reine. Ot ...

and

Flakstad Flakstad is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the traditional district of the island group Lofoten. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Ramberg. Other villages include Fredvang, Napp, Nusfjord ...

. In October, he praised Mattvett and Findus' advertisements at the Oslo train station, which showed that 335 000 tons of food is wasted a year. He notably praised them for raising awareness of food wasting and called on consumers to help reduce food waste. In May 2019, Elvestuen expressed his disagreement with his Brazilian counterpart, Ricardo Salles, who had stated that Norway's billion contribution to the Amazon rain forest fund was futile. Elvestuen stated: "The fund as a whole has certainly contributed to reduced deforestation. Norway's cooperation with Brazil is results-based. All Norwegian funds are a reward for reducing deforestation". Elvestuen was among the non-Progress Party ministers to be dismissed on 24 January 2020 alongside the Progress Party ministers, who stepped down as a result of their party withdrawing from government. He was succeeded by fellow Liberal Party member Sveinung Rotevatn. In her self biography released in 2021 after her resignation,

Siv Jensen Siv Jensen (born 1 June 1969) is a Norwegian who served as the leader of the Progress Party from 2006 to 2021. She also held the position as Minister of Finance from 2013 to 2020 in the Solberg Cabinet. She was also a member of the Norwegian p ...

described Elvestuen as the "most active cabinet member who wanted to tear down the coalition's cooperation". She also said that he demanded many postponed government conferences "by many hours" and "never gave up". Elvestuen refused to comment Jensen's recollection of him, but notes that there was hard fighting for many issues such as climate change, nature and drug reform.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Elvestuen, Ola 1967 births Living people Deputy members of the Storting Politicians from Oslo Liberal Party (Norway) politicians 21st-century Norwegian politicians