- Planet Earth
- Climate change
Trump's calls for a takeover of Greenland puts open scientific collaboration that is helping our understanding of the threat of global sea-level rise at risk.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.
Greenland has granted international scientists access for scientific research for decades.
(Image credit: Maridav / shutterstock)
Share
Share by:
- Copy link
- X
A 30-minute stroll across New York's Central Park separates Trump Tower from the American Museum of Natural History. If the US president ever found himself inside the museum he could see the Cape York meteorite: a 58-tonne mass of iron taken from northwest Greenland and sold in 1897 by the explorer Robert Peary, with the help of local Inuit guides.
For centuries before Danish colonisation, the people of Greenland had used fragments of the meteorite to make tools and hunting equipment. Peary removed that resource from local control, ultimately selling the meteorite for an amount equivalent to just US$1.5 million today. It was a transaction as one-sided as anything the president may now be contemplating.
You may like-
Forced closure of premier US weather-modeling institute could endanger millions of Americans
-
Melting of West Antarctic ice sheet could trigger catastrophic reshaping of the land beneath
-
Greenland is twisting, tensing and shrinking due to the 'ghosts' of melted ice sheets
Greenland is sovereign in everything other than defence and foreign policy, but by being part of the Kingdom of Denmark, it is included within Nato. As with any nation, access to its land and coastal waters is tightly controlled through permits that specify where work may take place and what activities are allowed.
Over many decades, Greenland has granted international scientists access to help unlock the environmental secrets preserved within its ice, rocks and seabed. US researchers have been among the main beneficiaries, drilling deep into the ice to explain the historic link between carbon dioxide and temperatures, or flying repeated Nasa missions to map the land beneath the ice sheet.
The whole world owes a huge debt of thanks to both Greenland and the US, very often in collaboration with other nations, for this scientific progress conducted openly and fairly. It is essential that such work continues.
The climate science at stake
Research shows that around 80% of Greenland is covered by a colossal ice sheet which, if fully melted, would raise sea level globally by about 7 metres (the height of a two storey house). That ice is melting at an accelerating rate as the world warms, releasing vast amounts of freshwater into the North Atlantic, potentially disrupting the ocean circulation that moderates the climate across the northern hemisphere.
Sign up for the Live Science daily newsletter nowContact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsBy submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.
The remaining 20% of Greenland is still roughly the size of Germany. Geological surveys have revealed a wealth of minerals, but economics dictates that these will most likely be used to power the green transition rather than prolong the fossil fuel era.
While coal deposits exist, they are currently too expensive to extract and sell, and no major oil fields have been discovered. Instead, the commercial focus is on "critical minerals": high-value materials used in renewable technologies from wind turbines to electric car batteries. Greenland therefore holds both scientific knowledge and materials that can help guide us away from climate disaster.
Unilateral control could threaten climate science
Trump has shown little interest in climate action, however. Having already started to withdraw the US from the Paris climate agreement for a second time, he announced in January 2026 the country would also leave the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC, the global scientific body that assesses the impacts of continued fossil-fuel burning. His rhetoric to date has been about acquiring Greenland for "security" purposes, with some indications of accessing its mineral wealth, but without mention of vital climate research.
You may like-
Forced closure of premier US weather-modeling institute could endanger millions of Americans
-
Melting of West Antarctic ice sheet could trigger catastrophic reshaping of the land beneath
-
Climate change is real. It's happening. And it's time to make it personal.
Under the 1951 Greenland defence agreement with Denmark, the US already has a remote military base at Pituffik in northern Greenland, now focused on space activities. While both countries remain in Nato, the agreement already allows the US to expand its military presence if required. Seeking to guarantee US security in Greenland outside Nato would undermine the existing pact, while a unilateral takeover would risk scientists in the rest of the world losing access to one of the most important climate research sites.
Lessons from Antarctica and Svalbard
Greenland's sovereign status and its governance is different to some other notable polar research locations. For example, Antarctica has, for more than 60 years, been governed through an international treaty ensuring the continent remains a place of peace and science, and protecting it from mining and other environmental damage.
Svalbard, on the other hand, has Norwegian sovereignty courtesy of the 1920 Svalbard treaty but operates a largely visafree system that allows citizens of nearly 50 countries to live and work on the archipelago, as long as they abide by Norwegian law. Interestingly, Norway claims that scientific activities are not covered by the treaty, to almost universal disagreement among other parties. Russia has a permanent station at Barentsburg, Svalbard's second-largest settlement, from which small levels of coal are mined.
Unlike Antarctica or Svalbard, Greenland has no treaty that explicitly protects access for international scientists. Its openness to research therefore depends not on international law, but on Greenland's continued political stability and openness – all of which may be threatened by US control.
If it is minded to take a radical approach, Greenland could develop its own treaty-style approach with selected partner states through Nato, enabling security cooperation, mineral assessment and scientific research to be carried out collaboratively under Greenlandic regulations.
RELATED STORIES—Greenland is twisting, tensing and shrinking due to the 'ghosts' of melted ice sheets
—Huge ice dome in Greenland vanished 7,000 years ago — melting at temperatures we're racing toward today
—Catastrophic tipping point in Greenland reached as crystal blue lakes turn brown, belch out carbon dioxide
The future for Greenland should lie with Greenlanders and with Denmark. The future of climate science, and the transition to a safe prosperous future worldwide, relies on continued access to the island on terms set by the people that live there. The Cape York meteorite – taken from a site just 60 miles away from the US Pituffik Space Base – is a reminder of how easily that control can be lost.
This edited article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Martin SiegertDeputy Vice-Chancellor (Cornwall), University of ExeterProf. Martin Siegert FRSE is Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Cornwall) at the University of Exeter and Chair of The UK Arctic and Antarctic Partnerships committee. Previously he was a Professor at Imperial College London and Co-Director of the Grantham Institute since May 2014, where he now holds a visiting professorship. Before that he was Head of the School of GeoSciences at the University of Edinburgh, where he is now an honorary Professor. Martin led the Lake Ellsworth Consortium – a UK-NERC funded programme that designed an experiment to explore a large subglacial lake beneath the ice of West Antarctica and is the UK PI on the International ICECAP programme that has deployed medium range geophysical flights in Antarctica since 2008.
Show More CommentsYou must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
Logout Read more
Forced closure of premier US weather-modeling institute could endanger millions of Americans
Melting of West Antarctic ice sheet could trigger catastrophic reshaping of the land beneath
Climate change is real. It's happening. And it's time to make it personal.
Trump 2.0 is dismantling American science. Here's what's at stake, according to researchers.
World's first global carbon tax was about to be introduced. Trump dealt a 'devastating blow' to the deal.
Antarctica's Southern Ocean might be gearing up for a thermal 'burp' that could last a century
Latest in Climate change
Amazon rainforest is transitioning to a 'hypertropical' climate — and trees won't survive that for long
'It is simply too hot to handle': 2024 was Arab region's hottest year on record, first-of-its-kind climate report reveals
Once-in-a-century floods set to become annual events in northeastern US in the next 75 years, study finds
Climate change is real. It's happening. And it's time to make it personal.
World's first global carbon tax was about to be introduced. Trump dealt a 'devastating blow' to the deal.
Global warming is forcing Earth's systems toward 'doom loop' tipping points. Can we avoid them?
Latest in Opinion
Is there anything 'below' Earth in space?
NASA launches Pandora telescope, taking JWST's search for habitable worlds to a new level
'The scientific cost would be severe': A Trump Greenland takeover would put climate research at risk
Gender ambiguity was a tool of power 4,500 years ago in Mesopotamia
Should humans colonize other planets?
'Gospel stories themselves tell of dislocation and danger': A historian describes the world Jesus was born into
LATEST ARTICLES
1Nebra Sky Disc: The world's oldest depiction of astronomical phenomena — and it may depict the Pleiades- 2James Webb telescope reveals sharpest-ever look at the edge of a supermassive black hole
- 3Astronomers confirm earliest Milky Way-like galaxy in the universe, just 2 billion years after the Big Bang
- 4Viruses that evolved on the space station and were sent back to Earth were more effective at killing bacteria
- 5Why is flu season so bad this year?
