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The Arctic is a political landscape in development, and it is subject to multiple and often competing claims of sovereignty. Although situated at the margins of territorial governance of the Arctic states until recent decades, the region has experienced rapid transformations, not least in its governance arrangements.

This chapter considers what might be deemed relevant normative standards when taking responsibility for the effects of rising global temperatures on the territories and communities of the Arctic. Are globally produced harms chiefly the responsibility of territory-specific communities in terms of their dire effects, as is often assumed?

Arctic communities must negotiate locally, regionally and with external actors on how to make the best use of the human and natural resources in the region. This is against the backdrop of increased globalization, climate change, high demand for the region’s mineral resources, and increasing local demand for improved living conditions and sustainable livelihoods.

Digital platforms and the online services that they provide have become an indispensable and ubiquitous part of modern lifestyles, mediating our jobs, hobbies, patterns of consumption and forms of communication. However, no one is steering this development, or closely looking at the impacts that it may have on remote communities in the Arctic and Nordic region, a hotspot for datacenter development.

Both policymakers and the technology industry need to do more to combat the ever-growing demand for data and its associated energy impacts. In this study, based on novel corporate data, expert interviews, focus groups with members of the public, extensive site visits across Greenland, Iceland and Norway and a literature review, we look at the energy and climate impacts of existing and proposed datacenters, both quantitatively and in terms of stakeholder and public perceptions.