Houses on waterfront Nanortalik Greenland. amanderson2, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Greenland Votes to Suspend Oil and Uranium Exploration because Climate Change

Guest essay by Eric Worrall

The Greenland Government, which currently survives on handouts from Denmark, has voted not to encourage the development of local oil and mineral resources, because of climate change.

Greenland suspends oil exploration because of climate change

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — The left-leaning government on Greenland which could be sitting on vast oil reserves, has decided to suspend all oil exploration off the the world’s largest island, calling it is “a natural step” because the Arctic government “takes the climate crisis seriously.”

No oil has yet been found in the waters of Greenland which had ambitions that hydrocarbons would be crucial to help Greenlanders realize their long-held dream of cutting the annual subsidy of 3.4 billion kroner ($540 million) from Denmark that currently rules out full independence.

Global warming means that the retreating ice could uncover potential oil and mineral resources which, if successfully tapped, could dramatically change the fortunes of the semiautonomous Danish territory of 57,000 people.

“The future does not lie in oil. The future belongs to the renewable energy and in that respect we have much more to gain,” the Greenland government said in a statement. It “wants to take co-responsibility for combating the global climate crisis.”

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/europe-business-climate-environment-and-nature-climate-change-6ac3a74848b2cf7c89d18c348b19e3a7

In my opinion this is rather sad news for local Greenlanders.

Greenland suffers the highest rate of youth suicide in the world, endemic poverty, a total lack of opportunity, and rampant alcohol and drug abuse – possibly because they are mostly a government handout economy. Two thirds of Greenland’s economy is based on money gifted from Denmark.

Driving forward a genuine domestic mineral export economy, requiring mining companies to hire locals, could have potentially changed all that, by offering more young people pride and hope for a better future, along with a serious source of private sector income.

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July 17, 2021 12:14 pm

Seems the Scandinavians are testing green ideology to the limit.

The closure of Sweden’s biggest cement factory on environmental grounds could cause up to 400,000 job losses and wipe out the country’s GDP growth, according to an alliance of construction bodies.

Work could grind to a halt on three-quarters of all house-building projects and the construction sector could lose more than 20 billion Swedish Kronor (SEK) per month.

https://www.dezeen.com/2021/07/15/carbon-sweden-economic-impacts-environmental-ruling-cement-plant/

IanE
Reply to  Ben Vorlich
July 17, 2021 1:35 pm

Oh dear – and I was just beginning to warm a bit to Swedes (well Anders Tegnell anyway).

Harves
Reply to  Ben Vorlich
July 17, 2021 2:47 pm

But don’t wind turbines require lots of cement? Surely they’re not saying they are detrimental to the environment? Who’d have guessed?

very old white guy
July 18, 2021 4:16 am

Is there such a thing as a suicide gene?

Steve45
July 19, 2021 12:40 am

And the morons on this website think it is called Greenland because it was once covered in forest.