Exploring the Impact of Climate Change on Arctic Shipping through the Lenses of Quadruple Bottom Line and Sustainable Development Goals

Climate change is everywhere, and the Arctic is no exception. The melting sea ice has caused renewed interest in expanding maritime shipping for potentially more accessible ocean routes. Canada emerges as a natural land bridge for trade between Asia, Europe, and the Americas. Plausibly, it is not a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inSustainability Vol. 14; no. 4; p. 2193
Main Authors Tiller, Stephen J., Rhindress, Adam P., Oguntola, Ibrahim O., Ülkü, M. Ali, Williams, Kent A., Sundararajan, Binod
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Basel MDPI AG 01.02.2022
Subjects
Arctic zone
Canals
Climate change
Culture
Economic development
Economics
Global economy
Ice environments
Infrastructure
Interdisciplinary studies
Land bridges
Literature reviews
Logistics
Marine transportation
Northern communities
Polar environments
Prosperity
Regional development
Sanitation
Sea ice
Society
Supply chains
Sustainability
Sustainable development
Transportation corridors
Canada
Suez Canal
Asia
Europe
Arctic region
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Summary:Climate change is everywhere, and the Arctic is no exception. The melting sea ice has caused renewed interest in expanding maritime shipping for potentially more accessible ocean routes. Canada emerges as a natural land bridge for trade between Asia, Europe, and the Americas. Plausibly, it is not a choice but an imperative to properly integrate the stakeholders (the environment, countries, remote communities, industrial partners) in opening the Arctic Circle to the global economy while considering the challenges. Keeping sustainability front and center and drawing on the extant literature and government policies, this interdisciplinary study offers a Canadian perspective on Arctic transportation routes over tribal lands and their quadruple bottom line (QBL) impacts on the environment, economy, society, and Indigenous cultures. Unlike the arguable premise that new transport corridors will increase trade traffic and enhance the economy in Northern Canada, the QBL approach enables a more holistic and realistic strategy for the Arctic region’s sustainable development regarding regional economies, rural logistics, supply chain efficiency, and social licensing. Drawing on an integrative literature review as methodology, we highlight the QBL framework and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals as crucial policy tools. Such a holistic perspective helps stakeholders and decision makers frame better policies in identifying, assessing, adapting, and mitigating risks for transportation infrastructure exposed to climate change. We recap the impacts of Arctic Shipping (ArSh) on QBL pillars in an interaction matrix and emphasize that while ArSh may be complementary to economic development, it poses threats to the viability of the Indigenous cultures.
ISSN:2071-1050
2071-1050
DOI:10.3390/su14042193