Notice

Green Industrial Partnership: UK - Norway memorandum of understanding

Published 8 May 2025

Memorandum of understanding between the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero of the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Royal Norwegian Ministry of Energy and the Royal Norwegian Ministry of Trade, Industry and Fisheries and the Royal Norwegian Ministry of Climate and Environment on a Green Industrial Partnership.

I Background

The Department of Energy Security and Net Zero of the Government of the United Kingdom (“UK”) and the Royal Norwegian Ministries of Energy; Trade, Industry and Fisheries; and Climate and Environment of the Kingdom of Norway (“Norway”) (hereinafter jointly referred to as the “Participants” and in the singular as a “Participant”),

1. Enjoying a deep and long-standing relationship as European neighbours, partners and allies, sharing common political objectives and fundamental values;

2. Recognising their shared commitment to accelerate the global energy transition and reach climate neutrality at the latest by 2050 in accordance with the Paris Agreement;

3. Recalling the ambition of Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s Strategic Partnership across defence, security, critical national infrastructure, energy, climate, industry and trade, signed on 16 December 2024, and the Joint Declaration to promote bilateral strategic cooperation between the UK and Norway across the relationship, signed on 13 May 2022;

4. Taking note of the UK EFTA EEA Free Trade Agreement (2022), and the Money Follows Cooperation Agreement between UK Research and Innovation and Norwegian Research Council (2022);

5. Taking note of the extensive existing collaboration in the energy sector, including the long-standing collaboration on petroleum activities in the North Sea and the trade in oil and gas which is important for both countries, the MoU on cooperation in the field of Carbon Capture Usage and Storage (2018) with an annex on hydrogen (2023), the Agreement on Cross-Border trade in electricity and Cooperation on Electricity Interconnectors (2021), and the Annual Energy Dialogue between UK Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and the Norwegian Ministry of Energy;

6. Taking note of existing collaboration across the climate and energy transition agenda, including: cooperation between Norway and the UK through the Breakthrough Agenda and Mission Innovation to enhance international collaborative action across seven high emitting sectors; and advancing the clean energy transition through the Clean Energy Transition Partnership and the Global Clean Power Alliance Finance Mission;

7. Recognising that industry plays an instrumental role in driving the green transition forward, and that UK and Norwegian companies are already collaborating and investing in each other’s markets;

8. Considering the importance of strong bilateral dialogue to support the green transition of their respective industries;

Have decided as follows:

II Objective

9. To establish a Green Industrial Partnership, thereby facilitating the green transition and path to net zero, increasing energy security, as well as trade and investment, critical research and development (R&D) and innovation, green skills and expertise and support for industry and business cooperation in the low carbon and renewables sector.

III Scope

10. The Partnership will complement and promote already ongoing cooperation between the Participants related to both green industrial transition and international climate commitments. It intends to pave the way for new initiatives central to the Participants’ ambitions and priorities and involve business and industry as appropriate.

11. Under the Green Industrial Partnership, the UK and Norway commit to:

a) Identifying opportunities for collaboration to strengthen critical global clean energy supply chains and raw materials markets, including through multilateral discussions.

b) Working collaboratively to promote the use of efficient electricity trading arrangements and capacity allocation which maximise the benefits of current and future shared energy infrastructure.

c) Foster dialogue and facilitate knowledge exchange on Offshore Hybrid Assets and their role in future energy cooperation.

d) Working collaboratively to support a robust pipeline of green skills and expertise, including through existing forums such as NSEC, making use of relationships with UK and Norwegian Trade Associations,

e) Subject to their respective entry measures, the Participants will consider how they can support and facilitate early career professionals in the green industry to gain high-quality expertise.

f) With reference to the MoU on cooperation in the field of Carbon Capture Usage and Storage, CCUS (2018) with an annex on hydrogen (2023), continue collaboration on CCUS and hydrogen, such as: initiating work to identify gaps and challenges to the development of our common North Sea as a hub for carbon storage and to develop a bilateral agreement or arrangement on cross-border transport of CO2 under the London Protocol; and establishing discussions on renewable and low carbon hydrogen, including its potential in the North Sea.

g) Cooperation on research and technology development, including through multilateral forums such as Mission Innovation, the International Energy Agency (IEA) Technology Collaboration Programmes and Horizon Europe.

h) Continued collaboration and information exchange on the protection of subsea and offshore infrastructure in the North Sea through existing structures such as the North Seas Joint Declaration of Cooperation and the North Seas Gas Infrastructure Security Group. The UK and Norway will work together, as appropriate, to ensure these fora help strengthen regional coordination to enhance global energy security now and in the future. Where security and resilience issues arise specific to our shared infrastructure, the UK and Norway will look to collaborate on a bilateral basis, including responding and recovering from any incident affecting our infrastructure.

i) Establish more structured discussion between Norway and the UK on coordinated climate diplomacy to deliver on shared commitments to limit warming to 1.5C and meet the goals of the Paris Agreement. Moving forward, we will work together where possible, including with third countries, to support implementation of Nationally Determined Contributions, reduce the investment gap identified in the Sixth Assessment Report of the IPCC and contribute to the global efforts to triple renewable energy and double energy efficiency.

j) Deepening UK/Norway partnership to enhance efforts to halt and reverse deforestation and forest degradation by 2030 as per the Global Stocktake and the Glasgow Leaders Declaration on Forests and Land Use. UK and Norway will work together to mobilise finance for forests from all sources, including through scaling high-integrity jurisdictional forest carbon markets, deepening our collective efforts to support Indigenous People and Local Communities as important stewards of critical forest ecosystems and working together with forest country partners to enhance forest governance and tackle illegality, and to promote a forest positive and sustainable rural transition.

IV Method of Cooperation

12. The Participants will convene on an annual basis, to review the range of activities under this Green Industrial Partnership, with a view to exchanging information on progress and consideration of future collaboration opportunities and actions.

13. Relevant departments/ministries will be involved on a continuing basis in areas of cooperation that are led by those departments/ministries.

14. The agenda, time and place of the meetings to further this partnership will be jointly decided upon by the Participants.

V General Provisions

15. The Memorandum of Understanding does not create any rights or obligations under international or domestic law. In particular, nothing in this Memorandum will represent a commitment of financing on the part of either Participant.

16. Nothing in this MoU affects the Participants’ rights and obligations derived from international agreements and conventions to which they are parties or their obligations under domestic law.

17. This MoU is applicable from the date of its signature and will continue to have effect for a period of 3 (three) years. It will be extended automatically for successive periods of 3 (three) years, unless one of the Participants notifies the other in writing, no less than 3 (three) months before the end of the current 3 (three) year period of its intention to terminate its participation at the end of that period.

18. A Participant may also end its participation at any time and should inform the other Participant writing of its intention to end its participation, giving no less than 3 (three) months’ notice.

19. Amendments to this MoU may be jointly determined in writing by the Participants at any time. The amendments will come into effect upon signature by both Participants.

Signed in Oslo on 7 May 2025 in two copies in the English language.