Ávarp Guðlaugs Þórs Þórðarsonar umhverfis-, orku- og loftslagsráðherra á vetrarmóti norrænna jarðfræðinga 2022 - Ávarpið er á ensku
Welcome to our little rock in the North Atlantic, dear geoscientists from Nordic countries and elsewhere. It is with great pleasure that we welcome you and open this 35th Nordic Geological Winter meeting here in Reykjavík Iceland. During my time as foreign minister, I put great emphasis on Nordic collaboration. In my view, the Nordic countries are our family, they are the nations closest to our hearts. Our opinions may differ but all logic tells us that collaborating closely with our nearest neighbors is always the sensible thing to do. Having you all here today is therefore especially important to me.
As you all know Iceland is a very active place in a geological sense, with a volcanic eruption every 2-4 years and so many severe storm warnings every year that we are not even counting anymore!
It has been said that Iceland is powered by a volcano. Hydro- and geothermal energy provide electrical power for the national grid and thermal energy for space heating, aquaculture, recreational swimming pools, greenhouses and much, much, more. Last year electricity production from Hydro amounted to almost 69% of the total production while geothermal contributed close to 31% of the total electricity production. Other energy sources are combustible fuels and wind contribute less than 0,1% to the total. If one looks at the nation’s primary energy supply more than 60% is supplied by geothermal energy. But living on a volcano is not always easy!
Geoscience plays an important role in the challenges ahead. We are facing a climate-crisis that requires, among other things, robust geoscientific expertise to project the future scenarios and to help us understand what is happening today: both in the atmosphere and in the oceans.
In light of climate change, we need to look at ahead. In December in 2020 a large debris slide fell on a community in East Iceland, after an unexpected, for the time it occurred, intensive rainfall event. Fortunately, no one was injured in the event, but extensive material damaged occurred. This example and many other shows us that our environment is undergoing changes which we need to study and monitor to be able to evaluate how it might affect us.
These days there is an intensive emphasis on the green energy transition, i.e. moving away away from fossil fuels. Most obviously we see this as increased numbers of electric cars; but it is important to recall that vast amounts of mineral and metal resources are needed for the energy transition. Geoscientists contribute not only by finding minerals, but also by developing novel and sustainable methods for producing and refining these minerals and metals. The Nordic countries are actively collaborating on these issues under the auspices of Nordic Innovation as can be seen from last year’s report on The Nordic supply potential of critical metals and minerals for a green energy transition. The green energy transition also requires new modes of producing energy. According to a report I commissioned earlier this year, in Iceland we will need to double green energy production to reach our ambitious goals of becoming carbon-neutral and fossil fuel free by 2040. Iceland is already a world leader in the production of green energy, producing twice as much per capita as does Norway, which ranks second in energy production per capita in the world. This new production will come from a mix of hydropower, geothermal power and, presumably, wind power.
It is thanks to the geological setting of Iceland that we have such potential to produce green energy here – volcanoes, glaciers, copious rainfall and steep, powerful rivers – and all these things are important for us Icelanders in other areas of life as well, such as tourism and recreation. You might even say that we derive a lot of our sense of self, of the sense of what it means to be Icelandic, from our unique nature. Doubling the production of green energy in Iceland while honoring and protecting the nature we have been entrusted with is a task which I take very seriously.
Dear friends. How can 10 billion people live together on Earth in harmony? We need Geoscience to help with clean water, soil quality, natural hazard mitigation, sustainable use of resources et cetera. These are some of the 17 UN sustainability goals. Indeed, geoscience contributes to ALL 17 UN sustainability goals. Another of the UN goals is to ensure education for all - we need more geoscientists to deal with problems of the future; and we need more fundamental research to understand better the planet we live on, and possibly other planetary bodies as well. The Environmental Doctoral Student Fund, established by this ministry last year, is a great example of the efforts we are leading to increase basic research into the fundamental processes governing climate. Another example of my ministry’s effort to support fundamental research in the geosciences is the on-going project of finishing the geological mapping of Iceland on a large scale, started in 2019 and currently funded through 2025. All these efforts are necessary so that we can adequately prepare for the changed world that lies ahead.
I mentioned in the beginning that we are welcoming you to the 35th Nordic Geological Winter Meeting. As you are all aware of the Geoscience society of Iceland had to postpone the conference originally set to be held in January because of COVID-19. Fortunately, we are getting back to normal after the pandemic. During this two-year period, we learned first that a lot can be accomplished with on-line meetings and on-line conferences. But as the pandemic wore on, we also learned that you can only accomplish so much over the internet. The value in conferences is not limited to listening to colleagues presenting the results of their work. A key ingredient is meeting with colleagues informally in between talks and sessions and at the end of a successful day. This is where the most valuable exchanges often occur, and enduring friendships are formed. I am reminded of one of the verses in Hávamál from Konungsbók Eddukvæða which ends with the words Maður er manns gaman which loosely translated into English reads: man is the joy of man