US defends Arctic policy

For Trump melting sea ice is an opportunity to exploit rather than a crisis to mitigate

THE Arctic is melting, but don’t ask US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to mention climate change. Nor to agree to a text that mentions it.

For the Trump administration, disappearing sea ice in the world’s “high north” is first and foremost an opportunity to exploit rather than a crisis to mitigate.

That position was made clear by Pompeo over two days as the foreign ministers of the eight members of the Arctic Council met in Finland, which is wrapping up its two-year chairmanship of the body.

Finnish Foreign Minister Timo Soini said yesterday there would be no joint declaration after the summit couldn’t get the US to agree on a text that included language about climate change. Instead, he said there would be statements from ministers and Finland.

Bill Erasmus, chairperson of the Arctic Athabaskan Council, a Canada-based group of indigenous people, expressed disappointment that a joint declaration had not been reached.

“We have some real concerns,” he said. “We recognise that climate change is real. Climate change is manmade, and our elders tell us that we are clearly in trouble.”

Official US statements and documents prepared for the meeting did not refer to “climate change” and their scientific focus was limited to reductions in US carbon emissions that predate the administration and research.

In a roughly 20-minute speech outlining the Trump administration’s Arctic policy on Monday, Pompeo acknowledged melting ice but didn’t use the phrase “climate change”.

His address was largely an admonition against increasing Russian and Chinese activity in the Arctic.

Nor did he indicate that the administration placed any priority on easing the melting that scientists say is already causing oceans to rise.

“Steady reductions in sea ice are opening new naval passageways and new opportunities for trade, potentially slashing the time it takes for ships to travel between Asia and the West by 20 days,” he said in the speech, which was met with polite but muted applause.

“Arctic sea lanes could become the 21st century’s Suez and Panama Canals.”

Asked directly about climate change and the Arctic in an interview with a Finnish newspaper, Pompeo downplayed the importance of the Paris climate accord.

“My view and President Trump’s view on this is that we should put all our emphasis on outcomes,” he said. “We can call it whatever we like, but I shared some of the data in the speech. The US is kicking it when it comes to getting its CO2 down. I mean, compare it to China, compare it to Russia, compare it, frankly, to many European nations, each of whom signed the Paris agreement.”

According to the statistics he presented, US energy-related CO emissions 2 fell by 14% between 2005 and 2017, while global energy-related CO emissions increased more than 20%.

In terms of black carbon, which is a particular threat to the Arctic, US emissions were 16% below 2013 levels in 2016 and projected to nearly halve by 2025, he said. Pompeo again declined the opportunity to mention “climate change” yesterday when he met with Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland who pointedly referred to the phenomenon as she played down a dispute with the US over the sovereignty of the Northwest Passage.

“We have a very close, very fruitful collaboration,” she said. “And actually, as we see the conditions of the Northwest Passage changing with our changing climate, I think that’s actually grounds for closer collaboration with the US.” Pompeo replied by saying the US was more concerned about Russia and China in the Arctic than ownership of the Northwest Passage.