Tropical Storm Ophelia takes on New York

Parts of New York City are underwater as record rains have led to life-threatening flooding. Brooklyn received more than a month's worth of rain within three hours. By nightfall on Friday 29 September, Queens recorded... READ MORE

Arctic Sea Ice Minimum Declared

The National Snow and Ice Data Center has just announced that the 2023 minimum Arctic sea ice extent occurred on 19 September and is the 6th lowest on record.... READ MORE

The World Above 1.5°C: Flooding Disasters from Libya to Hong Kong

Global temperatures have slightly decreased after a  summer with 36 consecutive days above any previous record, a phenomenon not seen in at least 125,000 years. However, the two consecutive months above 1.5C provided a... READ MORE

Polar Tipping Points Hub in WEF Global Collaboration Village

This week, the Polar Tipping Points Hub was launched in the Global Collaboration Village, a metaverse built by the World Economic Forum in partnership with Accenture and Microsoft, with scientific support from Arctic... READ MORE

Arctic Basecamp Plays Significant Role in New Polar Metaverse by World Economic Forum

The World Economic Forum (WEF) launched the Polar Tipping Points Hub, a groundbreaking virtual reality experience in collaboration with Accenture and Microsoft, yesterday at UN Climate Week in New York... READ MORE

COUNTDOWN

CO2 Budget Depletion

UN SUSTAINABILITY DEVELOPMENT GOALS

SDG 7 - AFFORDABLE & CLEAN ENERGY

 

Transitioning from fossil fuels to clean and affordable energy is key to the bold climate action we need this decade and beyond. However, some renewable energy projects in the Arctic are perceived by local communities as a form of ‘green colonialism., stripping away their rights of Indigenous Peoples. 

GLOBAL

Expanding access to affordable and clean energy is key to improving people’s ways of living. Climate change and associated crises like air pollution are making clean energy sources such as water, wind and sun significantly more necessary. Today, while 2.8 billion people are still lacking access to clean fuels and technology for cooking – the vast majority of whom are concentrated in Sub-Saharan Africa – the global population’s access to the same fuels and technology has increased from 55 to 63 percent between 2008 and 2018 (World Bank, n.d.).

ARCTIC

Transitioning from fossil fuels to clean and affordable energy is key to the bold climate action we need this decade and beyond. However, renewable energy projects, notably hydro- and wind-power, damage and fragment Sámi reindeer grazing lands and migration routes, and are often done without adequate application of rights like Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC). In Norway, the Sámi have prosecuted Øyfjellet Wind, a company that is planning to develop one of the county’s biggest wind farms on Sámi land, as the wind turbines scare the reindeer and push them off their pastures (Saami Council, 2020). The Sámi call these developments of land and rights dispossession “green colonialism.” Communities in more isolated parts of the Arctic rarely have access to the latest technology or more environmentally friendly solutions due to remoteness, poverty and lack of infrastructure. In another example, in 2020, a study found that broadband in Nunavut was up to eight times slower than the average in Canada (Flynn, 2021). 

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ARCTIC RISK INDICATORS

The following gauges show up-to-date data regarding key indicators in the Arctic. These indicators clearly point to the crisis at hand.

Greenland rate of ice loss
13 million l/s
on average
13 million tonnes/s
on average
Arctic Sea Ice Extent
2,404,499 km²
below 1981-2010 average on 01-Oct-2023
928,377 mi²
below 1981-2010 average on 01-Oct-2023
Arctic Amplification
4 times
faster than global average
Arctic 66N+ Wildfire emissions
24,925.36 megatonnes CO₂e
CO₂e emissions in 2023 so far
Arctic Air Quality (PM2.5)
4.07 microgram per cubic meter
on 02-Oct-2023
Global mean Sea Level
3.4mm/year
since 1993