Sylvi Listhaug has been appointed Minister of Petroleum and Energy yesterday. Her history denying climate science and her controversial political career make the headline at home and on abroad.
Norway’s new right-wing oil minister supports Arctic drilling and she is likely to clash with the coalition member Liberal Party which wants to restrict Arctic drilling.
Her critics at home and on abroad reminds her history denying climate change. In an interview in 2011, Listhaug said that “it’s not proven that human CO2 emissions lead to climate change.”
Yet a few minutes after formally taking her new position on Wednesday, she told reporters in her office that she now believes global warming is “also” caused by man.
Listhaug was forced to resign as justice minister in March 2018 after the Norwegian parliament threatened to overthrow the government because of her controversial Facebook posts. In one ofthem, she had accused the opposition Labor Party – the victim of right wing terrorist attack in 2011 – cared more about the rights of terrorists than about national security.
Listhaug again joined the government in May as public health minister.
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