Please join the Atlantic Council’s Global Energy Center and Transatlantic Security Initiative, within the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, virtually on Tuesday, February 8, from 12:00 pm – 1:15 pm ET for a discussion on the energy, resilience, and national security challenges in the Arctic region.

Retreating Arctic ice cover presents challenges far beyond global sea level rise. As a result of climate change, the Arctic is among the fastest warming regions in the world and is heating more than twice the global average. As such, novel shipping routes, illegal fishing activity, and nuclear submarine hiding places are emerging as the region becomes more accessible for a longer period throughout the year. Increased access to untapped oil, gas, and critical mineral reserves – an estimated $1 trillion worth –  paired with a longer extraction season is sure to heighten tensions as countries seek to capitalize on these opportunities. Given these realities and the effects on Indigenous communities, melting sea ice simultaneously poses commercial, energy, and military challenges likely to exacerbate existing geopolitical tensions.

A conversation with

Major General Randy “Church” Kee (Ret.)
Senior Advisor, Arctic Security Affairs, Ted Stevens Center for Arctic Security Studies
United States Department of Defense

Michael McEleney
Senior Advisor, Arctic Energy Office
United States Department of Energy

Terzah Tippin Poe, US Arctic Inupiaq
Nonresident Senior Fellow, Atlantic Council Global Energy Center
Principal Consultant, ICS | TRIO Global