Policy Focus

Björk: Iceland should join the EU

Icelandic singer Björk has said that the only way to stabilise the economy of the island is to join the EU.

At a press conference on Thursday as part of the ‘Road to Copenhagen’ initiative, a project to set priorities for the crucial 2009 UN climate change conference to be held in the Danish city, she said, “Right now it looks like it’s the only way - for Iceland to join the EU.

“All the companies I’ve spoken to, it’s at the top of their list. We need the euro to stabilise the currency.”

The companies she was referring to are those involved in her Náttúra campaign to find eco-friendly options for Iceland’s rich natural resources. She is donating all the proceeds of her new single, the aptly named Náttúra, to those small businesses that are suffering because of the financial crisis.

The added burden placed on start-ups and smaller companies in the country, she explained, is that the Icelandic government offers cheap electricity – at a third of the price it is in Europe – and tax breaks to large companies such as Rio Tinto and Alcoa.

“The Icelandic government does not have a sustainable relationship with Alcoa and Rio Tinto,” she said.

According to the singer, government policy has caused the building of three aluminium smelters, with two more planned in the near future, which has pushed greenhouse gas emissions in the country up to 17 tonnes per capita. The EU average is 11 tonnes.

“Iceland will exceed its Kyoto commitments if the two smelters are built,” she warned during the press conference with former Irish president Mary Robinson, EU commissioner Margot Wallström and UN special envoy on climate change, Gro Harlem Brundtland.

In 2005, when the Kyoto protocol came into effect in Iceland, the country was granted an exemption which allowed it to actually increase its greenhouse gas emissions by 10 per cent – due to the fact that that the island was one of the world’s most green, getting 72 per cent of its energy from renewables.

“Iceland needs to seriously reconsider its direction on climate change,” the singer went on. “We need to define what sustainable green energy means. Thermal energy can be green, but if harvested too much it can be dangerous.”

She suggests that the island could become “one big lush spa” by focusing on its natural hot pools, and that the entire country’s transport could be run on local electricity without the need to build more dams for hydroelectric power.