Webinars

Following my recent travels in the Arctic, I want to reflect on how issues of sustainability that we investigated in our Summer School play out in the unique nations of Greenland and Iceland.  While these two countries share some common history under the Kingdom of Denmark, they each have a very different past and present. However, there are some potential similarities in their futures and they face harsh challenges of climate change but also big opportunities related to a changing global business landscape.  As we explored in the Summer School, the Arctic climate and its influence on global climate change have inspired increased geopolitical and commercial interest in the High North – this has brought major investment by non-Arctic countries like China who see the potential for new partnerships in areas like research and transport, while multinational corporations are ambitious to secure contracts for resource extraction, fishing and more. This has boosted the small populations of Greenland and Iceland to a central position in discussions with international counterparts to create new deals to boost their economies, but these deals are also complicated as the smaller nations often lack bargaining power and experience in securing strong partnerships. My discussion presents a short report about topics related to Greenland and Iceland, their main challenges, and how this relates to some of the UN’s SDGs. There will also be time for questions and open discussion.