On 27 October 2015, the Nordic Council of Ministers for Business, Energy and Regional Policy (MR-NER) decided to carry out a strategic review of Nordic co-operation on energy and how it could be developed over the next 5–10 years. The strategic review is part of the Nordic Council of Ministers’ reform project initiated by its Secretary General, Dagfinn Høybråten. Strategic reviews have previously been conducted on foreign and security policy, health and labour-market co-operation. The remit was to present 10–15 concrete proposals that would further enhance co-operation in areas in which significant positive outcomes have been achieved over the past two decades.

The Paris Climate Change Conference of December 2015 and the EU’s goal of working towards a European Energy Union make this review particularly timely. It is also based on the Nordic countries’ own reviews of their national climate and energy policies. The geopolitical landscape is currently in a state of flux – global trade and climate policies are under pressure, and nationalist tendencies are emerging in many countries. This presents many challenges to Nordic energy co-operation, which has achieved ground-breaking results based on cross-border co-operation. Various studies have also shown that the Nordic Region has made similarly dramatic gains in terms of welfare. The time has come to assess how the Nordic countries can build on this success, despite adverse international trends. This review seeks to identify these challenges, present proposals for how the Nordic countries can move forward, and inspire further discussion and debate.