Melting sea ice, new shipping routes and growing geopolitical tensions are changing the Arctic – a region where the consequences of climate change are particularly evident. Arne Riedel, Senior Fellow at Ecologic Institute, spoke about the ecological, political and security developments in this sensitive region of the world in an interview with Axel Dorloff (rbb Inforadio / Wissenswerte).

The 26th Arctic Dialogue took place on 6 November 2025 at the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Climate Action, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMUKN) in Berlin. The programme comprised several panels and discussion formats addressing the impacts of climate change on the Arctic, including Arctic landscapes, pollution, and biodiversity, complemented by a roundtable discussion among ministries and institutions. Arne Riedel and Gregory Fuchs represented Ecologic Institute at the 26th Arctic Dialogue.

The 25th Arctic Dialogue took place on 3 June 2025 at the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) in Potsdam and focused on international cooperation in polar research, with a particular emphasis on the 5th International Polar Year (IPY 2032/33).

On 13 and 14 February 2025, Arne Riedel and Fenja Kroos from Ecologic Institute participated in the founding meeting of the Polar Policy Working Group of the German Society for Polar Research (DGP), held in Berlin. The meeting was organised in cooperation with the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES) and took place back-to-back with the annual conference of the DVPW thematic group on Polar and Ocean Politics.

On 12 and 13 February 2025, Arne Riedel and Fenja Kroos from Ecologic Institute participated in the Network Conference of the Thematic Group "Polar and Ocean Politics", held at the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in Berlin. The conference brought together scholars from a wide range of disciplines to discuss current challenges in polar and ocean politics.

The 24th Arctic Dialogue took place on 4 November 2024 at the Nordic Embassies in Berlin. Arne Riedel and Fenja Kroos highlighted Ecologic Institute’s work on Arctic governance, including ongoing research projects on adaptive management, governance analyses and dynamic marine conservation in the context of climate change.

The 23rd Arctic Dialogue took place on 26 June 2024 at the German Federal Foreign Office in Berlin. During a roundtable session, Fenja Kroos, Researcher at Ecologic Institute, presented Ecologic Institute's work on Arctic governance and policy-relevant research.

The Arctic is warming twice as fast as the rest of the world. Lead by German research institutions, international researchers from 20 countries are now engaged in the largest Arctic exploration of all times: the MOSAiC Expedition. Research approaches, findings and the impact of the Federal Arctic Guidelines were presented and discussed in a packed high-level evening event at the Bremen State House in Berlin. Dr. Camilla Bausch of Ecologic Institute moderated the event.

The Arctic Summer College (ASC) is proud to have recently completed its fifth successful year. This year, the Arctic Summer College had the exciting opportunity of hosting a breakout session at the Arctic Circle Assembly on 16 October 2015 in Reykjavík. Ecologic Institute's Arne Riedel, Max Grünig and Katherine Weingartner took part in the conference as part of the German delegation.

On 11 September 2014, nineteen top Arctic institutes in Europe proposed the establishment of an EU Arctic Information Centre as a network undertaking in the final seminar of the project "EU in the Arctic, The Arctic in the EU" in Brussels, Belgium. Arne Riedel presented Ecologic Institute's work on a Gap Analysis Report within that project, providing insights into Arctic stakeholders' needs to fill information and communication gaps.

On 5 November 2013, Ecologic Institute and the Embassy of Canada, Berlin, hosted a presentation by Jeannette Menzies, head of the Canadian International Centre for the Arctic Region (CICAR), on the topic of "Canada's Arctic Council Chairmanship". Jeannette Menzies elaborated on Canadian priorities and key initiatives for the next two years in this important regional forum. Arne Riedel, Researcher at Ecologic Institute, moderated the ensuing discussion with an expert audience – including fellows of the Arctic Summer College, via live video stream – covering a number of areas. In addition to questions regarding the Arctic Council, the included other issues, such as support for and exchange in science and research, as well as the inclusion of the private sector in the economic development of the region.

From 30 to 31 October 2013, a workshop entitled "Shaping Arctic Change through Conscious Choices" took place at the Abisko Scientific Research Station in Northern Sweden, ca. 200km north of the Polar Circle. Together with Shiloh Fetzek (International Institute for Strategic Studies - IISS, London) Golo Bartsch, Associate of the Ecologic Institute and PhD candidate at Bielefeld University, chaired one of the workshop's panels dealing with security issues. The workshop's results were drafted in a joint paper, which is due to publication in the coming weeks.

Dr. Ralph Bodle and his colleagues presented a report by Ecologic Institute on possible courses of action for German environmental policy with an emphasis on the Arctic in the context of the German government's Arctic Dialogue. The report offered a number of different possibilities of how Germany could work towards improving nature conservation in the Arctic.

Arne Riedel, Researcher at Ecologic Institute, presented the institutional framework for the Arctic and its changes as well as the possible influence of Arctic Council observers. Taking the expansion of regional interests into account, the presentation also examined the role of Arctic Council observer states in the possible concept of an "Arctic Community." He outlined the possibilities for observer states to influence the policies of Arctic states within and outside of the Arctic Council and concluded such observer states have been (and will likely remain) demanding actors in Arctic governance. The presentation slides are available for download.

Elizabeth Tedsen, Researcher, attended the Visionary Arctic 2012 conference in Kirkenes (Norway), where she presented on the environmental and social risks and benefits attributed to Arctic offshore hydrocarbon development. The conference sought to explore intersecting themes of sustainability and territorial challenges and explore future scenarios in the High North.