Christoffer Grønstad recently joined the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCICED) as a Special Advisor.
Grønstad is a Senior Advisor with the Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA). He has previously served as Counselor at Norway’s Embassy in China, Counselor for Climate Change and Forest at Norway’s Embassy in Indonesia, and as Senior Advisor for Norway’s Environment Agency and Ministry of Climate and Environment.
In this interview, Grønstad discusses the current state of international environmental governance, what role CCICED can play in this space, and how he is looking to contribute to CCICED’s work.
Welcome to CCICED, Christoffer Grønstad! Can you briefly introduce yourself to the CCICED community?
Thank you so much, it is great to be back with CCICED—this time in quite a different role than before.
In my daily life, I work for NIVA at our headquarters in Oslo, where I oversee some of our many international environment and development projects. I am currently working a lot on plastic pollution and circular economy, in cooperation with Chinese and other partners around the world.
Before I joined NIVA, I worked for the Norwegian environment administration, both in Norway and abroad. Some of my most exciting years were the 3 years I was posted at the Norwegian Embassy in Beijing, where, as our Climate and Environment Counsellor, I had the chance to follow the work of CCICED.
Which areas of environment and development have you focused on in recent years, and will these priorities be reflected in your work with CCICED?
During my first stint at Norway’s Ministry of Climate and Environment, I worked mostly on climate change and was part of Norway’s delegation to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. I then had the privilege of working at the Norwegian Embassy to Indonesia, where I focused entirely on rainforest protection before moving to a similar role in China, where I worked on “all things environment.”
When I returned home from China in 2022, I was nominated to Norway’s delegation negotiating the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. Together with our hosts from China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment and other China-based CCICED experts, I believe I was one of very few who attended both the first part of the 15th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in Kunming and the second part in Montreal.
Although they can be equal parts exciting and frustrating, I really enjoy international environmental processes, so I jumped at the opportunity to work on the future Global Plastics Treaty with NIVA.
Given that Norway has been an established partner of CCICED from the early on, we are lucky to be involved in many of CCICED’s workstreams already. For example, I admire how Jan-Gunnar Winther and his co-chair, Minhan Dai, manage the extensive work on sustainable oceans. Since I know this work is in very safe hands, I believe there is room for me to follow other areas that are important for Norway.
One such CCICED workstream is sustainable supply chains, which are important for both climate and nature. Likewise, the work on circular economy, with a focus on chemical and plastic pollution. As mentioned, these are also issues I work with on a daily basis at NIVA.
And finally, while CCICED has always been strong on its domestic environmental pillar, we have seen in recent years that the global development pillar has been strengthened as well. I find that very encouraging, and it is a trend I hope to support.
“It imperative to uphold the rules, core principles, and framework for cooperation through the United Nations system.”
What do you see as the key international sustainable development challenges in the coming years?
I am worried that we are lagging behind in so many areas. We know how our current practices deplete natural resources and destroy ecosystems at an alarming rate, and we are not able to act fast enough to stop and reverse that development. And when we act, it is often too little. The key challenge is for governments at all levels to agree on interventions on a scale that matches the actual issue at hand.
I was therefore encouraged by China’s announcement that its new nationally determined contribution under the Paris Agreement will cover all greenhouse gases and all economic sectors. China, gearing up to achieve its carbon peak and carbon neutrality targets, has the potential to show the world what interventions at scale look like.
If states are able to align their policies in all sectors with their climate goals, we will also reduce the pressure on nature by reducing emissions from plastic waste and other pollution.
Another challenge is to get people on board. Our chances of success will be much higher if communities understand the rationale for the measures their governments are taking to reduce emissions and protect nature. And if we get harmonized environmental and social standards in place, the private sector will experience a more level playing field, making it easier to create more and safer jobs in sustainability- and future-oriented businesses.
How do you see the global environmental governance system evolving to tackle these challenges?
As a former Vice President of the United Nations Association of Norway, it is very tough to see how the multilateral order is under heavy pressure from several sides. It is quite evident to me that we need more international cooperation to solve the massive environmental and development challenges at hand.
The ongoing geopolitical turmoil makes this work very difficult, but it also makes it imperative to uphold the rules, core principles, and framework for cooperation through the United Nations system. It is crucial to improve the understanding of environmental law that stems from the UN Environment framework, as it has developed over decades. And that understanding must not only be strengthened among those already working on the environment but also in the legal system and the ministries of finance, industry, energy, agriculture, and so on.
There are positive signs too, however. After many years of hard work, in 2023, the UN member states finally agreed on how to manage and protect marine biological diversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction in the Agreement on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction, or BBNJ Agreement in short. The ongoing UN negotiations to develop a legally binding instrument on plastic pollution will be another test of whether member states are ready to commit to a global framework to improve the lives of future generations.
I think we also see a trend where different UN bodies overseeing the implementation of multilateral environmental agreements work more closely together. I hope this will foster more cooperation across sectors on the regional and national levels as well. I am right now on my way to Indonesia for a workshop for plastic treaty negotiators from Southeast Asia, and it is encouraging that participants include representatives from health, agriculture, fisheries, and other ministries.
How would Norway like to advance environmental and development cooperation with China, including through CCICED?
It has been encouraging to see that both China and Norway have invested in our bilateral climate and environmental cooperation again after the pandemic. This has resulted in a renewed and strengthened commitment to working together on green and just transition, climate change, sustainable oceans, and more.
As most of us working in climate and environment know, it is important to work with other sector authorities as well, and I believe this is better integrated in our cooperation now. CCICED is obviously an important arena for this, as the Council provides advice to the State Council and has strong involvement from a number of ministries in China.
In addition, China and Norway have robust, thematic bilateral climate and environment cooperation, which I hope we can better integrate into CCICED’s Special Policy Studies.
How do you plan to contribute to CCICED’s work moving forward?
This might not sound like the most exciting project, but one thing I have focused on throughout my work with the Norwegian government is to facilitate cooperation between sector authorities. And no matter where I am in the world, and no matter if we work with a small or a large country, this inter-sectoral work is usually demanding—and crucial to success.
One of the beautiful things with CCICED is that we have so many members from other government entities than the ones working purely on the environment. I hope my approach can contribute to our work remaining relevant across all those members and institutions.
The views expressed are those of the interviewee and not necessarily those of CCICED.