Submission to the EU Arctic Policy Consultation
The European Union (EU) has invited input to a consultation on its Arctic policy. The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) welcomes the opportunity to contribute to the consultation.
Key Findings
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The European Union should maintain its commitment to an Arctic moratorium for energy security reasons. New fields in the Arctic would only become operational when the European Union should already be well advanced on its net-zero pathway.
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Maintaining the commitment to a moratorium will minimize security risks. Because the Barents Sea is shared between Norway and Russia, geopolitical changes have made it a vulnerable area. The more reliant the EU is on oil and gas imports from this region, the more exposed it is to security risks.
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The Arctic is a vital yet fragile ecosystem. Oil and gas expansion would significantly increase the risk of oil spills, leakages, and harmful underwater noise from shipping and seismic surveys, threatening vulnerable wildlife populations and biodiversity.
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Key Arctic partners, such as Canada and Greenland, have recognized the need to protect the region from fossil fuel expansion. If the European Union were to pull back from its own commitment, it would fall behind like-minded partners and dilute its credibility as a climate leader.
Since 2016, the EU’s Arctic policy has included a commitment to ensuring that oil, coal, and gas stay in the ground, including in Arctic regions. The European Union opened a consultation on the next iteration of its Arctic policy, and this document is IISD's response.
IISD recommends that the European Union upholds its commitment to an Arctic fossil fuel extraction moratorium in the next iteration of its Arctic policy. Furthermore, IISD recommends that the European Union establishes a clear timeline to phase out imports of fossil fuels originating from north of the Arctic Circle, including from the northern Norwegian and Barents seas.
Participating experts
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