Dartmouth partnered with the University of the Arctic and the Finnish Consulate in convening an event focused on climate tipping points and the Arctic during Climate Week NYC, an international conference bringing together senior leaders from government, civil society, business, and the climate sector.
Hosted by the Climate Group, in conjunction with the convening of the United Nations General Assembly, Climate Week NYC aims to drive transition, speed up progress, and champion the change that is already happening in the area of climate action.
Barbara Will, vice provost for academic affairs and a board member of UArctic, opened the session at the Cornell Club in Manhattan Monday, recognizing that the people and institutions of the Arctic, where the effects of climate change are progressing at an accelerated rate, face severe political, social, economic, and environmental challenges today.
It is critical for policymakers, Indigenous communities, and other stakeholders to move forward with urgency on global climate action, she says.
“Facilitating dialogue across different sectors of Arctic engagement—political, government, Indigenous peoples, business, higher ed, NGOs—is vitally important, and Dartmouth is committed to stepping up to this challenge,” she says.
The event was attended by 70 people, including leadership of a NATO climate center, U.N. delegates, the Finnish Consul General, representatives from the cities of Helsinki and Turku in Finland, delegates from several Arctic Indigenous groups, and Dartmouth alumni working with nongovernmental organizations and industry. Representatives from peer institutions like Harvard and Cornell, who are interested in deepening their ties with Arctic institutions, also attended.
The day included two panel discussions featuring prominent leaders in the world of climate action. The first, a climate and policy discussion, was led by Melody Brown Burkins, Guarini ’95, ’98, director of the Institute of Arctic Studies at the John Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding and UArctic chair in science diplomacy and inclusion. The second panel, focused on technology and finance, was led by Geoffrey Parker, interim faculty director of the Arthur L. Irving Institute for Energy and Society.
“With a diversity of brilliant speakers and a high-profile venue during Climate Week NYC,” says Burkins, “we were able to emphasize the importance of engaging the leadership, knowledge, and innovations of Arctic peoples in strategic climate collaborations. Each of these dialogues, followed by informed, inclusive climate action, brings us closer to a more secure, more resilient, more equitable future for the Arctic and our planet.”
Parker, a professor of engineering innovation at the Thayer School of Engineering, notes that the financial reality of decarbonization—moving away from the legacy system of oil and gas—will require trillions of dollars of committed capital. The finance and technology panelists addressed the complex connections between Arctic communities, the rapid changes in climate, and the potential benefits and challenges in new technology investment.
“You have Indigenous peoples who have often borne the ill effects of the infrastructure investments, but in some cases, they are also stakeholders and beneficiaries. And so it is essential that they have a voice in how these systems get unwound and what takes their place,” Parker says.
Parker was a good choice to moderate this panel, Will says, as the Irving Institute, with the Guarini School of Graduate and Advanced Studies, just launched a new master of energy transition program.
Will highlighted keynote remarks by Aaja Chemnitz, a member of the Danish Parliament for Inuit Ataqatigiit and chair of Arctic Parliamentarians. Chemnitz has fought for the right of the Indigenous peoples of Greenland, rather than the Danish government, to choose the economic partnerships that will honor traditional ways of life while developing the resources like new shipping lanes and access to natural resources that emerge amid rapid warming.
“She is really interesting because she’s trying to thread the needle between these two conflicting energies,” says Will. It was also clear at the event that Chemnitz has a large following.
“She’s huge,” Will says. “All these people were running over, especially Indigenous people, to take pictures with her because she’s kind of a rock star in the Arctic world.”
Facilitating these important discussions and attending Climate Week NYC, says Will, grew out of President Sian Leah Beilock’s Dartmouth Climate Collaborative by connecting, strengthening, and leveraging Dartmouth’s existing work on climate and sustainability.
“We are really announcing to the world how much Dartmouth cares about Arctic studies and how important that is to our history and to our background,” Will says.
The Dartmouth delegation brought several staff members and students to New York City to attend the proceedings including Rosalie Kerr ’97, director of sustainability, Arctic Innovation Scholars Manu Gupta ’27 and Ella Moore ’27, and Angelika Hofmann, director of research programs at the Arthur L. Irving Institute for Energy & Society.
Dartmouth was a founding member in 2001 of the University of the Arctic, a cooperative network that has grown to more than 150 universities, colleges, and other organizations around the world committed to higher education and research in polar regions. It was established by the Arctic Council, an intergovernmental forum promoting cooperation, coordination, and interaction among the Arctic states, Arctic Indigenous peoples, and other Arctic inhabitants on common issues, in particular on issues of sustainable development and environmental protection.
