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Greenland will stop all oil exploration despite the retreat of the ice, discovering a potential fortune of oil and mineral resources, the government said, adding that it “takes the climate crisis seriously”.
The Inuit-led Ataqatigiit government made the decision on June 24, but announced it Thursday as the next “natural step” for the semi-autonomous territory.
Despite the lack of oil found around the Arctic Island so far, officials have already seen possible vast reserves that could be discovered due to climate change.
The US Geological Survey estimates that there are approximately 17.5 billion barrels of undiscovered oil and 148 trillion cubic feet of natural gas off Greenland.
If successfully exploited, these reserves could dramatically change the fortunes of the island’s 57,000 citizens – and could have paved the way for the long-held dream of independence from Denmark.
However, the government of Greenland said in a statement: “The future does not lie in oil. The future belongs to renewable energies, and in this respect we have much more to gain.
He added that he was seeking “to take joint responsibility for tackling the global climate crisis”.
The announcement was greeted on Friday with praise from environmental group Greenpeace, which said the news was “fantastic”.
“And I understand that the licenses that remain have very limited potential,” Mads Flarup Christensen, secretary general of Greenpeace Nordic, told Danish weekly Ingenioeren.
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