About

Miljøpartiet De Grønne, also known as MDG, is a Norwegian political party focusing on environmental issues. MDG were officially established in 1988, even though they registered for the midterm elections in 1987 (Jupskås, 2017).

The political party emphasizes an environmentally sustainable lifestyle, which includes promoting the use of renewable energy, opposing oil drilling in Norway as the country is the 15th largest oil exporter in the world (International Energy Statistics, 2016), as well as healthy and sustainable food. Furthermore, MDG also upholds clear stances on other issues within politics, with the core values including feminism, pacifism, and grassroots democracy (Jupskås, 2017).

As the climate change debate and environmental awareness has grown over the past few years worldwide, green parties such as MDG has gained traction. MDG achieved its breakthrough in 2013, when it received 2.8 % of the vote in the national election, thus ensuring one member in the Storting, the Norwegian parliament. In 2017, MDG received 3.2 % of the vote in the national election, thus maintaining one member in the Storting (Jupskås, 2017).

 

Goals

As a political party, MDG have stances and goals clearly stated across the spectrum of political issues, whether it is immigration policy, education, or infrastructure. However, as MDG focuses primarily on environmental issues, and their mission statement emphasizes this: “The party’s goal is a compassionate society in an ecological balance. The economy fundaments must include green and ecological principals, and promote peace and fairness both locally and globally. Local communities based on local resources is essential to attain this goal” (Jupskås, 2017).

Furthermore, although MDG has listed goals in every aspect of politics, the party has underlined the importance of achieving the goals listed under their core political stances, such as, but not limited to:

  • Promoting green solutions in the Norwegian economy, such as encouraging the use of renewable energy and discontinuing oil drilling
  • Set challenging carbon footprint goals, and molding our strategies after based on these goals
  • Achieve a sustainable working environment, both physically, mentally, and environmentally
  • Intervene in markets to incentivize the production of local, organic, and vegetarian food (Miljøpartiet De Grønne, 2018)

 

Opposition

MDG does not have any direct adversaries in the political sphere, although they advocate more challenging solutions to environmental issues in the country compared to other political parties.
However, there has been a rift between political parties on a few environmental issues, particularly the proposal of oil drilling in Lofoten. MDG, along with the Left Party and the Socialist Left Party, are against the proposal, while the Conservative Party and FrP are for it (Thorkildsen, 2017).