Technology alone won't solve the green shift
This article was published in Teknisk Ukeblad 26/5-2025.
The green shift doesn't boil down to technology alone, it depends on people who know how the systems work in practice.
The green shift is often highlighted as a question of technology. Artificial intelligence, automation, digital twins and smart infrastructure are mentioned as the solution to everything from emissions to energy loss. But technology is only one part of the equation. For the solutions to actually work, they need to be developed and used by people who understand both the systems we have, and the challenges we need to solve.
Both the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) point out, that access to the right skills can be as crucial as access to technology. Technological solutions will only be effective if they are understood, anchored and used in practical reality, and developed with industry-specific expertise.
Because even the most advanced technology is worthless if it doesn't meet the environment in which it is to work. And that only happens when someone understands both the technological potential and the specific conditions in the industry. That's why we need to talk more about what is often overlooked in overall plans and roadmaps: industry-specific expertise.
We need to translate, not start from scratch
The green shift is not about building a new Norway from scratch. It's about using what we already know in new ways. For decades, Norway has built up an enormous competence base in oil and gas, not only technically, but also in logistics, management, safety, risk analysis and data understanding. The question is not just how we create new green industries, but how we use what we already have.
Can experience with seismic data be used in offshore wind development? Yes, it can.
Can offshore expertise be transferred to floating solar, carbon capture and ocean-based hydrogen? Absolutely, yes.
The challenge is not a lack of will, but a lack of connections. There are too few systems and structures for translating existing skills into new sectors. And there's too little understanding of how important industry-specific insights are for technology and the green shift to actually work.
That's not a claim, it's a documented pattern: When technology doesn't take into account the reality it's supposed to fit into, it fails, precisely because it's treated as a generic IT project. But digitizing an energy value chain is not like building an app, it requires an in-depth understanding of risk, regulation, security and operations. It requires interdisciplinarity. And it requires people who both know the technical language and understand the systems they're changing.
Use what we've learned
The oil and gas industry has taught us something we cannot afford to forget: Technology does not succeed on its own. It must be linked to operational understanding, safety, regulation and operations, and it must be developed in collaboration between professionals across disciplines. The green shift is no different. We cannot build the energy system of the future on investments and good intentions alone. It requires people with a deep understanding of the system, in-depth experience and the ability to see the big picture.
The climate solution lies in the meeting between experience and innovation
If we're serious about the green shift, we need to start by taking the existing skills landscape seriously. We need to see skilled workers, engineers, geologists, developers and operators as part of the climate solution. Not as a group that needs to be retrained, but as a group that can be built on. We must develop technology in collaboration with those who will use it, and we must ensure that experience does not become a footnote in the transition to something new. The future is not built on visions alone. It will be built by people who know what they are doing and why it works.
