Climate factor in Arctic exploring

Climate change must be recognised as an issue when it comes to oil and gas drilling in the Arctic, MPs said yesterday as they launched an inquiry into protecting the region.

The parliamentary environmental audit committee will examine how climate change might open the region to new commercial activities and what the UK government can do to protect the fragile wilderness.

The committee said rising global temperatures were melting the Arctic sea ice, paving the way for a new “oil and gas gold rush” around the North Pole, as well as opening up shipping routes and new fishing grounds.

But the potential exploitation of the Arctic is set to be highly controversial, with environmentalists warning about the damage to the region and the climate if activities such as drilling for new fossil fuel supplies go ahead.

Yesterday, the environmental audit committee said that while the UK had no jurisdiction over the Arctic, the inquiry will look at how the government could use its influence through measures such as regulation, incentives and treaties, to ensure the region’s development was sustainable and took account of climate change.

The UK has observer status on the Arctic Council, which is made up of the eight nations ringing the Arctic, indigenous peoples and a number of observer states. Under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, the states around the North Pole are able to submit bids for Arctic territory in a process set to begin in spring.