Climate change will affect all of the world's regions and citizens. The Arctic is among the regions that will face the most dramatic changes. Already, permafrost is degrading, glaciers are receding, and sea ice is disappearing. The Northwest Passage was free of ice for the first time in the summer of 2007. The Arctic plays a special role in the global climate system, so these changes in the Arctic environment will affect not only local people and ecosystems, but the entire world.

Public concern about climate change, heightened by the dramatic changes occurring in the Arctic environment, has never been higher. Although time is short, it is not too late to make a difference. Climate science tells us that to avoid the worst impacts of global warming we need to act now to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The Pembina Institute conducts research and provides recommendations to the federal government on climate change policy. For more information on the Pembina Institute's national climate change work, please visit our Climate Change page. Pembina also works with communities and companies across Canada to help them reduce their greenhouse emissions and adapt to the effects of climate change.

Young Leaders' Summit on Northern Climate Change

In August, 2009, the Pembina Institute co-hosted a four-day youth summit on climate change. Sixty Canadian youth gathered in Inuvik, Northwest Territories, to discuss climate change, share their stories and build their leadership skills. The summit built the capacity of young leaders to speak on climate change at home, nationally and internationally. At the conclusion of the summit, the participants issued a declaration calling for action on northern climate change. To learn more, visit www.climateleaders.ca.

Arctic Indigenous Peoples and Environmental Groups Call for Action on Climate Change

A coalition of northern Canadian Indigenous organizations and environmental groups released the Inuvik Declaration on Arctic Climate Change and Global Action at the 2008 United Nations climate change negotiations in Poznan, Poland. The declaration calls on the Government of Canada to show leadership in fighting global warming at home and abroad and to increase financing to help Northern Canada reduce emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change. According to the declaration, "The Arctic is now warming rapidly with much larger changes projected. Climate change presents pressing problems for Arctic Indigenous peoples and residents, as well as risks to Arctic species and ecosystems." For more information, please read the declaration and the press release.

Northern Communities and Climate Change Adaptation

The climate is changing more rapidly in the North than anywhere else on earth. Many northern communities are already having to adapt to a changing climate. These communities want to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to lessen the effects of global warming, while also preparing for the unexpected and planning for a wide range of climate change impacts. The Pembina Institute works with Northern communities on community energy and sustainability planning as well as climate change adaption.

For example, the Pembina Institute worked with the City of Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories to create a Community Energy Plan and address potential climate change impacts. The City of Yellowknife, like many northern communities, has already observed negative impacts on municipal infrastructure that are in part attributable to climate change. In 2006 and 2007, the Pembina Institute facilitated a series of climate change adaptation workshops for Yellowknife's municipal decision makers. Following the workshops, Pembina released Creating a More Resilient Yellowknife: Climate Change Adaptation and Municipal Decision Making, which includes recommendations to help the City become a model of climate change adaptation decision making. As a result of this project, the City of Yellowknife now has the tools, capacity and decision-making processes necessary to systematically address climate change impacts at the community level as they emerge.