Past Summits

About the Arctic Energy Summit

The Institute of the North, founded by former Governor Wally Hickel to promote the reality, richness and responsibility of the North, is now in its 22nd year. Governor Hickel was a proponent of an approach to the Arctic that recognized it as a Commons, with public ownership of much of the land and resources. He believed that as such, governments had a responsibility to manage those resources consistent with the public interest, and the Institute of the North carries that forward as improving the economic and living conditions of the people of the North.

The Arctic Energy Summit, which has now been a project of the Sustainable Development Working Group of the Arctic Council three times, similarly regards energy resources - from a comprehensive and holistic perspective - as serving as a fundamental building block for communities and economies. The outcomes from the Energy Summit include the identification of best practices, research questions and potential projects that will advance the application of emerging energy technologies and adoption of renewable energy; foster greater benefits to northern peoples, including via non-renewable resource production; while minimizing environmental, social, cultural and economic risk.

By convening the Arctic Energy Summit, the Institute of the North believes that northerners can better understand what the potential ingredients might be and the tools that are out there to deliver success. We are glad to have been joined in this effort by a high-level and diverse mix of subject matter experts, community leaders, government officials and private sector executives over the years. With between 300 and 500 participants from morre than 14 nations, we are thankful for a rich and rewarding conversation that results in practical ideas presented to the Arctic Council. We hope that attendees come away from the Summit with a greater understanding of the complexity of the issues, stronger relationships with colleagues in this region and the nexus between renewable and non-renewable energy resource development, and community heat, power and efficiency.

Learn more about Past Summits - find final reports, video and presentations by visiting the summary from each year.

For the 2017 Arctic Energy Summit in Helsinki, Finland, see here