The Arctic Question for Europe: What if the High North Becomes a Flashpoint? - A Geneva Security Debate

A Geneva Security Debate hosted by the Geneva Centre for Security Policy in collaboration with Körber-Stiftung.

As climate change and geopolitical competition converge in the High North, the Arctic is emerging as one of the most consequential arenas in international security. Sanctions evasion, contested investment in Greenland, environmental disruption, and hybrid threats to the vulnerability of strategic infrastructure are becoming increasingly interlinked, testing the resilience of existing governance frameworks and the cohesion of European and transatlantic responses.

This Geneva Security Debate will present the key findings of the 2026 Körber Policy Game, "Thawing Order: The Arctic Question," which brought together senior experts and officials from Denmark, Germany, Norway and the United Kingdom to examine how a crisis in the Arctic might unfold and what policy options would be available to European actors. The discussion will explore the growing entanglement of economic, environmental and security risks in the region, the increasing strategic importance of Greenland, the continued relevance and limits of frameworks such as UNCLOS, NATO and the Arctic Council, and the importance of Indigenous communities as central actors in Arctic governance.

The panel will bring together leading voices from the policy game and the broader Arctic security community to discuss how European states can move from reactive crisis management to genuine preparedness, and what a coordinated, credible European approach to the Arctic could look like.

Opening Remarks

• Ms Julie Allard, Deputy Director of Mediation and Peace Support, GCSP

Speakers 

• Mr Mads Qvist Frederiksen, Director of the Arctic Economic Council (AEC)

Other speakers to be confirmed soon.

Moderator 

• Leslie Schübel, Programme Director, Berlin Foreign Policy Forum, Körber Policy Game