Iceland's Green Man.(Environment & Leadership)(Geir Haarde)(Interview)

Byline: Daniel Gross

How a tiny island nation weaned itself off fossil fuels and took the lead in alternative energy.

Iceland Prime Minister Geir Haarde, who since 2006 has presided over this small country that derives 80 percent of its energy needs from renewable sources, has been named the greenest political leader by NEWSWEEK. Iceland's happy status--which has insulated it from spiraling costs of coal, natural gas and oil--derives in large measure from accidents of geography. The country sits atop volcanoes that provide geothermal energy and possesses glaciers that produce waterfalls, which turn electricity-generating turbines. But while nature endowed Iceland with natural resources, it has taken decades of sustained leadership to wean Iceland off coal and other fossil fuels. Yet the focus on renewables has allowed Iceland to develop new industries and play an outsize role on the global stage. In March, Haarde sat down with NEWSWEEK's Daniel Gross to discuss Iceland's green energy past--and future.

GROSS: Iceland seems farthest along in developing a post-fossil-fuel economy. How have you managed to get here?

HAARDE: We are blessed with a lot of clean and renewable energy. For us, it's always been natural to use the natural warm water that comes out of the ground. We have done that for centuries to heat pools to bathe in, and for the past 70 years to heat our houses. These sources provide almost all our electricity. We don't import coal. We have no use for it.

It's an accident of geography and geology?

In part. I met the governor of Wyoming at a conference in Rome last November, and he said they have enough coal in the U.S. to last 200 years. From that perspective I can see how difficult it is to change behavior, because there is no imminent threat. It's a question of relative prices.