The EU will abandon its efforts to secure a global ban on oil and gas drilling in the Arctic as part of a new strategy that focuses on security risks in the polar region. The 27-country bloc pushed for an international ban on new oil and gas drilling in the Arctic on environmental grounds in 2021. A new strategy due to be announced on Tuesday will maintain the EU’s opposition to Arctic oil and gas drilling but will end efforts to secure a global agreement on stopping hydrocarbon exploration there.
The pivot follows increasing geopolitical tensions in the Arctic, as Russia, China and the US vie for supremacy in the region. It also underlines the breakdown of multilateral efforts to limit global warming and a change in EU priorities since its previous Arctic strategy was developed. The new strategy maintains an ambition to ensure “oil, coal and gas stay in the ground” in the region but drops 2021 commitments to “work with partners towards a multilateral legal obligation not to allow any further hydrocarbon reserve development”.
The FT had reported in April that the EU was considering dropping its calls for an international ban. Reaching multilateral agreements has been made more difficult by the EU’s rocky relationship with Donald Trump’s administration, which backs fossil fuels over renewables and pulled the US back out of the Paris climate agreement. The US president recently touted plans to drill for oil in Greenland after striking an agreement on security in the territory with Copenhagen and Nuuk last month.
An EU official said the bloc’s own “position is clear and that’s what we control. No buying [of oil and gas from the Arctic], no drilling”. Norway, which has become an increasingly important supplier of gas to the EU since 2022, has lobbied heavily for the bloc to drop its opposition to Arctic drilling.
Oslo has long argued that its oil and gas production and exploration in the Barents Sea — north of the Norwegian mainland and below the Svalbard archipelago — is different from the classic view of the Arctic, as it is ice free and easy to access. The new draft EU Arctic strategy also places a heavy focus on security threats in the region. The bloc will leverage the use of its satellite systems Copernicus and Gallileo in the Arctic and also improve data sharing to better monitor cable damage and improve surveillance of Russia’s shadow fleet of oil tankers.
It will also explore joint procurement of icebreaker capabilities to enable easier navigation of the region.
Source: Financial Times Companies · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing