| By Danielle Bochove When Kenneth Hoegh, a native Greenlander, thinks about the Arctic these days, he tries to focus on the common ground between countries rather than the increasingly fraught political relationships among Arctic nations — including between his own territory and the United States. It’s a difficult but essential mindset as he steps up to lead the operations of the Arctic Council, the preeminent body tasked with maintaining multilateral cooperation in the Arctic. Hoegh, who is also the Kingdom of Denmark’s Arctic ambassador, is taking over as chair of the council’s senior Arctic officials, diplomats who guide its activities. The Monday handover comes at a time of remarkable geopolitical tension for a region that, until a few years ago, was seen as a sort of neutral zone, with the countries ringing it broadly united in their desire to maintain a “High North, low tension” approach. But now the US, one of the council’s eight permanent member states, has expressed interest in acquiring two other members, Greenland and Canada. Russia, also on the council, has stood at odds with its peers since its invasion of Ukraine. Climate research, a priority of the council, is also under pressure as US funding cuts stand to reduce scientific activity in the region and Russia’s isolation hinders collaboration. “We are communicating within the frames that we have,” Hoegh said. “We will just try to do our level best to do as much as possible. We have to work within that political landscape.”  Kenneth Hoegh Jessica Cook/Arctic Council Secretariat The council’s mandate is to work collaboratively with Arctic nations, Indigenous communities and increasingly engaged observer states — like China — on polar issues affecting the entire world. As the fastest-warming part of the world opens up, there are competing interests that need to be managed. But the body is being pushed outside its comfort zone. Tensions between members are becoming harder to ignore even as they make survival of the organization critical. The world’s eyes are on the region for its critical mineral stores and shipping lanes emerging from melting sea ice. The Kingdom of Denmark, which includes Greenland and the Faroe Islands, chose the Greenlander Hoegh to lead its council work. Neither Hoegh nor Denmark’s Senior Arctic Official Torsten Kjolby Nielsen would comment on how Trump’s aspirations to acquire Greenland may affect the council, if at all. “It’s multilateral work; we consider this a bilateral question,” Nielsen said. When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, the council immediately suspended all activity. Norway became chair a year later, after a handover from Russia that was itself, at times, in doubt. Norway gradually restarted work, first with scientific projects that didn’t include Russia, then with virtual working-group meetings and finally with in-person meetings between the chair and the six Indigenous groups that are permanent participants. “It’s no secret, of course, that the Arctic Council has been severely affected by the Russian unlawful, full-scale invasion of Ukraine,” Nielsen said. “It is a complicated situation for us as a chairship because if you imagine a triangle, we have no business as usual in one corner, yet we have a growing interest and relevance in the Arctic globally, and also within our own states.”  Painted buildings in Sisimiut, Greenland, on March 30, 2025. Photographer: Juliette Pavy/Bloomberg Russia has made clear that it would like to see the council’s operations fully normalized, which would require a former policy change agreed to by all other permanent member states. That likely won’t be possible without a resolution in Ukraine, said Espen Barth Eide, Norway’s minister of foreign affairs, who previously chaired the currently suspended political arm of the Arctic Council. While there are no political-level meetings happening now, another Greenlander, the territory’s foreign minister, Vivian Motzfeldt, will chair meetings of foreign ministers should they resume. “As long as there’s no peace agreement in Ukraine, I don’t think it will be possible to extend the cooperation any further than it is right now,” Eide said in a May 9 interview about Norway’s tenure leading the council. With President Donald Trump back in the White House, however, the US-Russia dynamic has shifted. “Now there’s an American constellation that’s more in favor of contact with Russia than the previous one,” Eide said. He added that when he spoke with Marcio Rubio, the US secretary of state, Rubio made positive comments about the council. Read the full story here and subscribe for more news about climate politics and policy. | 
