Þórunn Sveinbjarnardóttir umhverfisráðherra flutti ávarp í Hellisheiðarvirkjun um helgina við undirritun samkomulags um vísindaverkefni sem miðar að bindingu koltvísýrings sem steintegundar í iðrum jarðar. Að verkefninu standa Orkuveita Reykjavíkur, Háskóli Íslands, Columbia háskóli í Bandaríkjunum og Rannsóknarráð Frakklands. Í frétt á vef Orkuveitu Reykjavíkur segir að verkefnið hafi þegar vakið athygli víða um heim vegna hugsanlegra áhrifa þess á glímuna við gróðurhúsaáhrifin.

President of Iceland, Mr. Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, ladies and gentlemen,

There is perhaps not much to state about this project in addition to what has already been said here. But I think it is important for me as Minister for the Environment to offer my support for this project, and I welcome the chance to be able to address this ceremony and say a few words.

Climate change has become one of the defining issues of our time, and has moved to the top of the international agenda, whether at the United Nations, G-8 meetings or other forums. There is certainly no shortage of talk on climate change, and this is good, because words are the catalyst in every endeavour – orð eru til alls fyrst - as an Icelandic saying goes.

But words are not enough. Deeds have not followed the pace of talk, not internationally and not here in Iceland. We can do much better now and in the near future in many areas regarding climate change, as a recent conference on renewable energy for vehicles in Reykjavík showed. We Icelanders are very close to being world leaders in the number of cars per capita, and better still in the number of big cars per capita. On the international arena, it is disheartening to learn that funding for energy research in developed countries has actually declined since the 1970s, according to the IPCC. We’ve had our oil shock, but the “climate shock” has yet to sink in with many of those who hold the purse strings in government and industry.

We must face up to uncomfortable facts, but let us accentuate the positive. We Icelanders are proud of our record with regard to geothermal energy, and I think justifiably so. Not only have we had the good sense to use warm water where it is readily available, but we have funded research and developed world-class technology to locate geothermal sources in so-called “cold” areas. We have shared this technology and know-how to the world through, inter alia, the UN University’s Geothermal Training Programme here in Iceland. And now, we are entering a new phase, by examining the possibility to pump greenhouse gases into the ground in a manner that has not been tested before.

There is no way to know beforehand if this technology will work as envisioned. But the scale of the climate problem requires us to examine every path to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere. There is no one silver bullet, but a hail of known and unknown technologies needs to be put through the test. Human ingenuity can take us to the moon and I am convinced that it can take us from the brink of a climate disaster. It is promising to see sharp brains from different universities and companies and countries assembled here to launch a most exciting project. I wish you good luck. Indeed, I wish all of us good luck, because we all have a stake in your success.