It’s not so easy being green. Stadtwerke München is investing heavily in supposedly sustainable wind energy, especially wind farms in Norway – and suddenly you not only have the indigenous Sami people as your opponent, but also a visibly upset Greta Thunberg at the forefront.
The Swedish climate activist rushed to Oslo on Monday to support a Sami group that has been blockading the oil and energy ministry in the Norwegian capital for days. Because of a massive wind turbine on the Fosen peninsula in Trøndelag on the west coast of the country, which is taking over ancestral land for reindeer herding from the Sami. When it comes to human rights violations, Greta Thunberg told Norwegian broadcaster TV2, then she also speaks out against green wind energy: “We can’t use climate change as a cover for colonialism.”
At the heart of the dispute are the two wind farms Storheia and Roan near Fosen, which were completed in 2019 and 2020. Together they form Norway’s largest wind energy region, with 151 wind turbines at the moment. Two years ago, in March 2021, the Roan wind farm with its 71 wind turbines was majority owned by Stadtwerke München SWM and its Norwegian partner Trønderenergi.
Protests have followed the partnership between SWM and Trønderenergi since the beginning of January 2019. Trønderenergi is a company owned by two dozen Norwegian municipalities. In the new 2019 joint venture, Trønderenergi has a 30% minority stake, 70% owned by the Munich-based company.
Citizens on the island of Froya protested in 2019 against the feared destruction of nature by the new planned wind farms, as did reindeer herders in the inland Stockfjellet area. At the time, the newspaper Aftenposten wrote about the Munich beer, which would soon be cooled with Norwegian electricity, and the Bavarian pork knuckle, which would be warmed with it: “We will bear the consequences, Germany has a clear conscience.”
The Supreme Court agreed with the seeds. But the verdict is ignored
The protests in Oslo against the wind turbines in Fosen have taken on a new quality. The Sami went to court – and got their rights a year and a half ago: Norway’s Supreme Court ruled in October 2021 that the construction of the wind turbines in Fosen violated the rights of indigenous peoples: The Sami have used the region for hundreds of years to herd reindeer, and this is “a protected form of cultural practice”, according to the court. Sami rights were violated because no “satisfactory compensatory measures” were taken during construction. However, as experience has shown that reindeer avoid land with wind turbines, reindeer herding, ultimately the Sami way of life, is threatened in the long run.
What makes the Sami so angry: 500 days have passed since the verdict – and nothing has happened. “The 151 systems are working at full speed”, informs TV2. Civil disobedience – meaning the ministry’s lockdown in Oslo – is their “last resort”, said artist and actress Ella Marie Hætta Isaksen, also from the Sami people: “We were not listened to”.
So far, statements made by politicians have failed to quell the anger of protesters. Social Democrat Prime Minister Jonas Bahr Støhre said he understood that people were frustrated. And Energy Minister Terje Aasland has announced that it is now time to consider how to proceed with wind farms. The government needs “more research, more knowledge to make new decisions”. This could take another year.
Green leader Arild Hermstad called the government’s inaction following the Supreme Court ruling “disgraceful”. Sami activists have been demonstrating since last Thursday. Over the weekend, the police pushed her out of the ministry lobby. That’s why they gathered on Monday to protest outside the entrance. Many wore the traditional costume inside out – an ancient Sami form of protest. Elsewhere, it has long been evident that wind turbines and reindeer husbandry cannot coexist, protesters say. “We demand the demolition of the wind turbines,” said Greta Thunberg on Monday, “and the area given back to the seeds”.