Climate Policy Engagement Analysis
Climate Policy Engagement Overview: Norsk Hydro takes a mix of positive and negative positions on ambitious climate action in its top-line messaging. The company engages on specific climate-related policies in the EU and Norway with predominantly negative positions, in particular with regard to carbon pricing legislation. Norsk Hydro broadly supports renewable energy-related legislation and the energy transition.
Top-line Messaging on Climate Policy: Norsk Hydro has some positive top-line messaging on climate action, albeit with significant exceptions, in particular regarding the need for climate regulation. The company’s CEO supported limiting the global temperature rise to 1.5°C in a press release published in December 2023. However, as a signatory of the February 2024 Antwerp Declaration, Norsk Hydro seemed to emphasize risks of deindustrialization and carbon leakage with regard to the EU’s goal to achieve climate neutrality by 2050. The company does not clearly support the need for stringent climate policy in the EU. For example, it qualified its support for the EU’s Fit for 55 Package by stating that it must be combined with competitive framework conditions. Similarly, in the Antwerp Declaration Norsk Hydro advocated against prescriptive regulations following the EU Green Deal targets, emphasizing impacts of climate policy on international competitiveness. The company supported the climate targets in the Paris Agreement in its 2024 Annual Report, published in February 2025.
Engagement with Climate-Related Policies: Norsk Hydro appears to take broadly negative or unclear positions on climate-related legislation in the EU and Norway, with some positive engagement on renewable energy-related policy.
The company does not seem to support stringent carbon pricing legislation in the EU. Its CEO repeatedly advocated against reducing indirect cost compensation in the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS), for example in a March 2024 press release. In a January 2024 EU feedback comment, Norsk Hydro supported the ETS reform of free allocation rules with some exceptions related to the calculation of free allowances. With regard to the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), the company emphasized the need for the policy to be tested and reviewed in its 2024 Annual Report, published in February 2025, and did not take a clear position on the phase-out of existing carbon leakage protection measures under the EU ETS.
Norsk Hydro is broadly supportive of renewable energy legislation, for example by promoting more ambitious renewable energy-related policies in Europe in its 2024 Annual Report, published in February 2025. The company’s CEO also supported a more ambitious wind power taxation proposal in Norway in an Alumnium Insider article published in October 2023.
Positioning on Energy Transition: Norsk Hydro takes broadly supportive positions on the energy transition. It broadly supported industry decarbonization in press release published in June 2024, and appeared to support the EU Net Zero Industry Act in its 2024 Annual Report, published in February 2025. In a July 2023 joint letter to EU policymakers, the company supported the EU Industrial Carbon Management Strategy to scale up carbon capture utilization and/or storage for the use in hard-to-abate sectors only. Norsk Hydro is a signatory of the February 2024 Antwerp Declaration, which takes unclear positions on industry decarbonization, for example, it advocates for more funding for ‘clean’ technology without clarifying what this includes, and states support for Carbon Capture and Utilization (CCU) without providing details on the long-term role of fossil fuels and conditions under which CCU would apply.
Norsk Hydro signed a joint letter to EU policymakers in September 2023 in which signatories advocated for more ambitious government funding for low-carbon critical mineral supply chains, and supported meeting the production and recycling targets of the EU Critical Raw Materials Act, in order to meet the EU Green Deal targets for electric vehicles and renewable energy.
Industry Association Governance: Norsk Hydro retains membership of four industry associations which actively engage on climate change-related policies, including the European Roundtable for Industry, Eurometaux, and the International Emissions Tradings Association. The company has not published a formal review of its industry associations and climate policy engagement.