Greenland’s substantial reserves of rare earth elements and other critical raw materials have become a prominent aspect of geopolitical posturing in the Arctic. For many observers, the Trump administration’s interest in acquiring Greenland has been driven in large part by a desire to secure access to strategic minerals and reduce U.S. dependence on Chinese supply chains. The European Union likewise sees Arctic natural resources as a means for reducing dependency on China.

But how viable is large-scale resource development in Greenland? What political, economic, environmental and logistical obstacles stand in the way? And how significant is China’s current Arctic engagement compared to several years ago when it actively pursued mining ventures, infrastructure investments, and scientific cooperation across Greenland and the wider region?

In this special episode of Polar Geopolitics, recorded at the Arctic Frontiers conference, we explore these questions with two leading experts. Gørild Heggelund, Research Professor and China specialist at the Fridtjof Nansen Institute, and Nick Bæk Heilmann, Senior Associate at Kaya Partners in Copenhagen, offer insights into Greenland’s resource potential, the strategic competition surrounding critical minerals, and the evolving role of China in the Arctic.

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The emphatic European response to the Greenland Crisis has made clear its growing interest in the Arctic at a time when the European Union is working on an updated Arctic policy. How will a radically altered geopolitical environment influence EU policy, what role does the Arctic play in Europe’s relationship with the United States, and has the crisis created an opportunity for the EU to reassert itself in a region sometimes seen as an arena of Great Power Competition between the US, Russia and China? To discuss these and related topics, Dr. Andreas Raspotnik, Senior Researcher at the Fridtjof Nansen Institute and a specialist in European Union’s interests and policies in the Arctic, joins the podcast in a special episode recorded live on location at the Arctic Frontiers conference in Tromsø, Norway.  

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From the definitive end of Arctic exceptionalism to the long-term implications of the Greenland Crisis, Prof. Klaus Dodds and Dr. Gosia Smieszek-Rice engage in a big picture discussion on Arctic megatrends that are shaping the geopolitical future of the circumpolar North. Has the “Global Arctic” of a decade ago been replaced by a new era of Great Power Competition in which Europe finds itself in a “crush zone” between Russia, China and the United States? Can the Arctic Council ever return to its previous role as a forum for international cooperation, science diplomacy and the participation of indigenous peoples’ organizations in Arctic governance? This is one of the most informative and insightful episodes since the Polar Geopolitics podcast started in 2018. It was recorded live on location at the Arctic Frontiers conference in Tromsø, Norway.

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Two prominent Greenlandic voices join this special episode of the Polar Geopolitics podcast,

recorded on location at the Arctic Frontiers conference in Tromsø, Norway. Aaja Chemnitz is one of the two Greenlandic members of the Danish Parliament, and Dr. Sara Olsvig is a former minister of the government of Greenland and the current chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Council. They discuss a range of topics including the place of Greenland in the world and within the Kingdom of Denmark, Greenland’s guiding principle of “nothing about us without us”, relations with the United States and the European Union, Arctic indigenous peoples organizations and the Arctic Council, the security of Greenland and the Arctic, and the socio-economic and political future of Greenland, including the question of independence.

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This is a REPRISE of an episode of Polar Geopolitics originally published on 28 March 2025

Jeppe Kofod, Denmark’s foreign minister during Trump’s first Greenland gambit, joins the podcast to analyze the current situation and share insights from his central role in resolving the previous U.S.-Denmark-Greenland crisis in 2019.

Polar Geopolitics has now started a Substack where we will provide edited episode transcripts, original articles and analyses, and other content on geopolitics, the Arctic and Antarctica:  https://polargeopolitics.substack.com 

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This is a REPRISE of an episode of Polar Geopolitics originally published on 15 April 2024

“Greenland is the most dynamic piece in the new Arctic security jigsaw puzzle”, according to a new book that applies the international relations theory of securitization to analyze the security and geopolitics of Greenland and the Arctic. Marc Jacobsen, Ole Wæver and Ulrik Pram Gad, co-editors and authors of Greenland in Arctic Security: (De)securitization Dynamics under Climatic Thaw and Geopolitical Freeze, join the podcast to discuss the configuration of Arctic security and explain how relations between Nuuk, Copenhagen and Washington, as well as issues such as Greenlandic national identity, independence and sovereignty, are strongly influencing the future of the region.

Marc Jacobsen is an Assistant Professor at the Royal Danish Defence College; Ole Wæver is a Professor at the University of Copenhagen; and Ulrik Pram Gad is a Senior Researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies. Greenland in Arctic Security is available from the University of Michigan Press: https://press.umich.edu/Books/G/Greenland-in-Arctic-Security2

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What geopolitical reasoning is driving Donald Trump’s incessant pursuit of Greenland? As Deputy Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff of the White House National Security Council during the first Trump administration, Alexander B. Gray was closely involved with the initial U.S. attempt to acquire Greenland in 2019. In this episode of the podcast, Mr. Gray, who is today CEO of the strategic advisory firm American Global Strategies, explains why he shares Donald Trump’s strong belief that Greenland should be situated within the political orbit of the United States. He also discusses the role of Greenland, the Arctic and Antarctic, as well as Canada, as key components of the concept of Hemispheric Defense, and explains why he advocates an America First policy for Antarctica.

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Several weeks into the latest, most acute, phase of the ongoing Greenland Crisis, a Danish strategy for keeping the Kingdom intact in the face of the Trump administration’s unwelcome advances can be discerned. Jon Rahbek-Clemmensen from the Center for Arctic Security Studies at Royal Danish Defence College joins the podcast to provide his analysis of Copenhagen’s approach to managing the crisis, and to discuss dynamics inside the Kingdom of Denmark at a time of extreme external pressure from the United States in its attempt to acquire Greenland.  

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With transatlantic ties and the future of NATO at stake, security policy analyst Maria Martisiute from the European Policy Center in Brussels joins the podcast to discuss the role of the EU, NATO and member states in attempting to mitigate the Greenland Crisis. She also presents six recommendations for potentially turning the crisis into an opportunity to enhance Arctic security and foster greater cooperation between Denmark, Greenland, the United States, and European countries and institutions on issues ranging from natural resources to collective security. Her recent article on the topic is called It’s a bargain: the case of Greenland.

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The appointment of Jeff Landry as special envoy reflects the Trump administration’s increasingly assertive pursuit of Greenland – what Prof. Steven Lamy of the University of Southern California sees as a strategy of coercive diplomacy directed towards the Kingdom of Denmark. In an interview recorded in late December, Prof. Lamy, a scholar of political science and international relations, joins the podcast to explain how the current US approach towards acquiring Greenland represents a radical departure from post war American foreign policy and resembles a 19th century spheres of influence worldview.  

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