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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?

Several years after the signing of the Paris Agreement, oil and gas production continues at a fast pace despite a near global recognition of the ongoing energy transition away from fossil fuels (IEA, 2021a, 2021b). The increasing demand for oil and gas caused by the post-pandemic lockdown economic recovery threatens the momentum gained by the energy transition.

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.

The latest IPCC report on Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate, which builds upon previous IPCC’s reports, established a causal link between anthropogenic impacts and ocean acidification, by noting a significant decrease in the Ocean’s uptake of CO2, with consequent damage to Earth’s ecosystems, which in turn has traceable repercussions on the Arctic Ocean and then from the Arctic to the Planet Earth.

In July 2020, the European External Action Service of the European Commission launched a public consultation on the way forward for the European Union’s Arctic policy. The consultation was held to re-examine the role of the EU in Arctic affairs, to revise the priorities of the current Joint Communication on an integrated European Union policy for the Arctic and the actions thereunder, and to identify possible new policy areas to be developed.