A new report from conservation group WWF indicates that Norwegians are using more than three times the level of renewable resources that's considered ecologically defensible.
If the rest of the world consumed as much as Norway does, according to the report, the human population would need three planets, not just the one that it has.
Oslo newspaper Dagsavisen reported Tuesday that the WWF's "Living Planet Report 2006" reflected Norway's high level of carbon dioxide emissions and high consumption of its fishing resources.
Norway landed in 11th place in the last similar report two years ago, meaning that its environmental profile has worsened.
"It's not very surprising that Norway moved up on the list," Tor Traasdahl of WWF Norway told Dagsavisen. He noted that Norway's emissions have increased during the past two years.
Traasdahl also claimed that Norwegians, long accustomed to abundant hydro-electric resources that resulted in relatively reasonable energy costs, have been slow to start conserving energy and start behaving in a more environmentally conscious manner.
The high use of fishing resources reflects Norway's fish-farming industry. Around 1.5 million tons of small fish are used to produce around 500,000 tons of farmed fish. Over-fishing of the small fish can have consequences for the seas' ecological system, according to the WWF.
The United Arab Emirates topped the list of the world's largest per-capita consumers, followed by the US, Finland, Canada, Kuwait, Australia, Estonia, Sweden, New Zealand and Norway. Many of the countries have small populations, like Norway, meaning their industrial and domestic consumption will give them a poor per-capital ranking.
