The Arctic is the natural barometer for measuring global climate change – and so much more. When the ice melts in the Arctic, sea levels rise in Eckernförde, St. Peter-Ording and Warnemünde. The potential consequences are dramatic: flooding, environmental damage, vast tracts of land made uninhabitable. The climate crisis is particularly evident in the Arctic, since the region is warming at up to four times the pace of other world regions, and this has a significant global impact.

At the same time, the Arctic is of key importance for our security here in Europe. Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine has also changed the geopolitical environment in the High North on a permanent basis. Russia is reinforcing its strategic presence in the region and is behaving increasingly aggressively towards the NATO states that border the Arctic. China, too, is investing ever more economic and scientific resources in the Arctic, whilst developing capabilities that could be put to military use.

For these reasons, we are now adapting our Arctic policy to bring it into alignment with our National Security Strategy. We choose close cooperation with our NATO allies and partners in the region who share our values, in order to respond to the increased security challenges and to defend the international rules-based order in the Arctic as we do elsewhere. We are committed to a systematic climate and environmental protection policy in the Arctic with the aim of keeping the 1.5 degree target within reach. We call for clear rules on the environmentally responsible extraction of raw materials. And we support the indigenous peoples who live in the Arctic.

In the Arctic in particular, scientific cooperation is of singular importance, be it on research into the atmosphere, the ice, the sea or the coasts. The Alfred Wegner Institute is a true flagship of Germany’s Arctic research. It provides vital findings on the changes occurring in this unique environment and links up international partners worldwide. For what happens in the Arctic concerns us all.

It is clear to us that security and stability in the Arctic make themselves felt far beyond the region, whose unique environment is something we want to develop sustainably and protect as best we can.