Icelandic ruling coalition starts new term with climate agenda

Helsinki, Nov 29 (IANS) Iceland's new government leadership was announced at a press conference. Katrin Jakobsdottir of the Left-Green Movement continues as the Prime Minister in a renewed term of the three-party coalition with the Independence Party and the Progressive Party.

The coalition parties have 37 members in the country's 63-seat parliament and the government program highlighted climate issues, Xinhua news agency reported.

Iceland is to set an independent national target of a 55 per cent reduction in emissions of its direct responsibility by 2030 compared to 2005. The island country is to achieve carbon neutrality no later than 2040 and would be "the first state independent of fossil fuels," Icelandic national broadcaster RUV reported.

"There must be agreement on new power plants to build a green and carbon-neutral society. The most important thing is that this is done with caution towards the sensitive nature of the country and in line with growing energy consumption in parallel with the phasing out of fossil fuels," RUV quoted the government program.

The Icelandic Parliamentary elections took place on September 25. The final confirmation of the election result was delayed until this past week and the new parliament could not convene until last week.