The Bellona Foundation is financed by industry, business, individuals as well as project oriented grants from philanthropic organisations and the Norwegian government.
Though our offices, located in Brussels, Washington, St. Petersburg, Murmansk and Oslo, Bellona works with relevant governments, experts and other NGOs to achieve sustainable solutions to the world’s most pressing environmental problems. These include the clean-up of the Cold War legacy in Russia, the safety of the oil and gas industry in Russia and Europe, fighting global warming through campaigns at local and government levels, and publishing our findings on Bellona Web to keep the public aware and educated about the environment in which it lives.
Bellona is on the vanguard of all of these environmental crises. The foundation has published four reports on civilian and military nuclear facilities in Russia, showing the enormous potential for both potential and ongoing radioactive contamination. But as we are also a solution oriented organization, these reports and our on-going work are geared toward making constructive contributions to alleviating these burdens and finding permanent storage for nuclear waste to guard future generations from contamination.
We also extremely involved in the fight against global climate change and have produced reports for the public, other NGOs and world leaders offering alternatives to current energy and transportation structures that produce fewer greenhouse gasses in a safe and profitable way. We advocate carbon dioxide emission-free gas production, carbon dioxide capture and sequestration, solar and wind energy to replace old fossil fuel plants, and we put the first electrical and hydrogen powered vehicles on the road in Norway. We have also taken on the challenge of educating industry about the advantages of carbon dioxide sequestration, which will keep it out of the air and sealed in underground chambers.
In all of these pursuits, we understand that it is important work with industry rather than be its adversary. This is why Bellona developed the unique “B-7” programme. Through this programme, members of the business and industrial community can work with Bellona to find more ecologically sound methods of operating.
As the 21st century brings more industry, industry will need a watchdog. It is Bellona’s goal to be that watchdog and to make sure technological advances are accompanied by sound ecology. Bellona Web will report in full on these events as they occur and strive to maintain its position as one of the best environmental news sites in the world.