Climate Politics

Trump’s Greenland Threats Put Crucial Climate Change Research at Risk

Political tensions are hampering work on the island, which is key to understanding the effects of global warming. 

A residential area in Nuuk, Greenland, on Jan. 27.

Photographer: Ina Fassbender/AFP/Getty Images

US President Donald Trump’s vows to take over Greenland have chilled relationships between American and Greenlandic researchers, halting some projects and making future collaborations uncertain.

Ross Virginia, a professor emeritus of environmental studies at Dartmouth College, said a climate program he ran with Greenlandic colleagues was halted by “mutual agreement” due to the tensions.