Two years ago, Lan Marie Nguyen Berg, Oslo city council member and rising star in Norway’s Green Party, predicted that a “green wave” would wash over the small Nordic country — one of the world’s leading exporters of oil and natural gas — in the 2021 parliamentary election. She was partly right: when the election was held this past Monday, September 13, parties pledging aggressive action on the climate did make impressive gains.

But the Green Party was not among them. Having proclaimed its willingness to give up “expensive welfare reforms” (for instance, free dental care for all) to pursue its climate agenda, the party underperformed its polling and narrowly failed to achieve the critical 4 percent threshold for “leveling seats” that can more than double the parliamentary representation of small parties.

The green parties that succeeded on Monday are in fact red: the Socialist Left Party and Red Party, both of which couple a steadfast commitment to Norway’s green future with an uncompromising defense of the universal welfare state, together captured 12.3 percent of the vote in a crowded, multiparty field. Their success, along with a better than expected showing for the once-dominant Labor Party and a very impressive one for the agro-nationalist Center Party, suggests that after eight years of Conservative-led government, a majority of Norway’s voters want meaningful climate action and the reaffirmation of a social democratic project that serves people in both urban centers and rural districts.