Why Kangerlussuaq?
Due to its history and location, Kangerlussuaq is unique in so many ways. It is the only inland community in Greenland with roughly 500 residents, having been established as an American military base in 1941, Blue West Eight, which was later renamed Sondrestrom Air Base (SFJ). It was passed onto the Greenland government in 1992 and was the main airport hub for the country, when Nuuk Airport began offering direct connections to Copenhagen. Kangerlussuaq is also a core destination for tourism and scientific activities: outdoor adventures include hiking, wildlife spotting, fishing and hunting and both scientists and tourists use it as a gateway to the inland ice sheet.
Extreme Nature
Kangerlussuaq is an ideal location to see and experience climate change first hand due to its visible impact on the surrounding nature. In a country where there are no roads that connect towns, it’s pretty impressive that you can drive all the way to Russell Glacier and the Greenland Ice Sheet from the town centre!
Extreme Electric Lights
Kangerlussuaq is 67 degrees north and sits directly on the invisible aurora belt. Due to its location and stable climate conditions, Kangerlussuaq competes with the best places in the world to see the dark sky light up in an electrifying light show – the wondrous Northern Lights…
Since northern lights begin appearing from late August, continuing to late April, there is a high chance for a night show during Extreme E!
See more reasons
Extreme Silence
If you think electric SUVs are silent, you will discover yet another level of quietness in Greenland – extreme silence! Set among stunning blue waterways, glaciers and mountainous fjords, it’s so easy to experience the silence of Greenland by hiking, driving or dog sledding into nature. Once you get out of town, the only sounds are natural ones. The call of caribou, a glacier calving, the rustle of the wind.
Extreme Knowledge
Navigating the terrain and weather is part of the everyday and the people of Greenland learn innately about the Arctic, climate change and nature simply by being present. It means that the people of Kangerlussuaq are natural beings, living and adapting everyday to their stunning surroundings.
Extreme testing
Kangerlussuaq has a history of being a test centre, particularly for motor vehicles. It has been a test centre for Volkswagen and BMW – because if something can function well in the extreme climatic conditions of Greenland, it can function well in most other places on the planet.
Climate change in Greenland
Greenland is the hot spot for climate change – and you can find out why below.
- The guide to climate change in Greenland
- The people must adapt to climate change: 360° Dogsledding Tour in East Greenland
- A place for disseminating knowledge: Ilulissat Icefjord centre opens in July 2021
Because of its accessibility to the melting ice sheet, Kangerlussuaq is also a science knowledge hub. The community is therefore a provider of scientific services.
Goal: The Green Greenland
Greenland is a country focused on improving its carbon footprint – which is of course a different type of challenge when your country is an island nation tasked with bearing the Greenland ice sheet in its centre. Our extreme climatic conditions mean that we cannot grow organic produce in most of Greenland; basically everything is imported; and that our tiny population of 57,000 residents inhabit only the outskirts of the island scattered in small communities.
Visit Greenland identifies four Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that the tourism industry can directly impact. These are: quality education (4), decent work and economic growth (8), responsible consumption and production (12) and partnerships for the goals (17). There are many ways of doing this, but focusing on the pristine environment, local development and finding the right balance between the cultural practises of the past while heading towards the future is a primary goal.
Greenland’s capital, Nuuk, is already on the journey to being the first certified sustainable capital in the world through EarthCheck. This in turn will have a knock-on effect, achieving other SDGs such as climate action (13), life below water (14), and life on land (15).
For the geeks: read a more formal and detailed mapping about sustainability in Greenland (DK only). Here is also how we suggest our local tourism industry to be more sustainable.
In 2007, the largest GLOF or jökulhlaup on record at Russell Glacier occurred where approximately 39.1 million m3 of water was released from the glacier over the course of 17 hours. This equates to over 15,000 Olympic swimming pools, with outflow discharge averaging at around a quarter of an Olympic swimming pool per second.
Fun facts
Increasing the renewable energy
Greenland produces much of its own energy and is aiming towards increasing its renewable energy output from 70% to 100% by 2030 (Nukissiorfiit – Annual Report 2019).
The Greenland Dog Adventure project
Culture is an important factor for sustainability in Greenland. The Greenland Dog Adventure project is an initiative addressing the fact that Greenlandic dogs, considered working animals, have traditionally only been used in the wintertime. The project tries to give the dogs further purpose in life all year round through tourism and cultural heritage education in schools. It is also an opportunity for diverse product development.
Electric and hybrid cars in Greenland?
Nearly ⅕ of motor vehicles in Greenland are electric or hybrid cars. In 2020, Greenland had 5379 registered motor vehicles, of which 977 were (747) electric or (230) hybrid cars (statbank.gl)
A long lasting footprint
Together with the following partners, Extreme E aims to leave a long-lasting legacy in Greenland supporting the fight against climate change. These partnerships include but are not limited to:
Climate education with UNICEF:
The vision is to educate young people for climate action through a new syllabus reimagining climate education in Greenland. This is realized in a week where there will be the focus subject: “Silasisa Iliuuseqarlutalu” // “Let’s take part in the climate fight”. Students in school will act as climate agents to find constructive solutions for reducing CO2 emissions in Greenland.
Compostable toilets with Natural Event Toilets:
Due to the lack of bathrooms available near the popular tourist destination of Russell Glacier, Extreme E are installing and training local staff to maintain compostable toilets for use during the race weekend and leaving them behind for future visitors to use. It will be “changing the world from the bottom up”, and the compost produced can be used to grow for example vegetables.
Promotion of electric mobility with DASU - Science and Slalom:
The Danish Automobile Sports Federation (DASU), the Qeqqata kommune and Kalaanni Teknikkmik Ilinniarfik (KTI, the vocational school of Greenland) present an interdisciplinary project for pupils of 6th – 10th grade in Greenland to develop a teaching concept, encourage interest and knowledge in electric vehicles to coincide with Extreme E.
Solar energy in Kangerlussuaq School with Xite Energy and Myenergi:
Solar panels will be deployed in Kangerlussuaq, with a focus on providing renewable power to the school as well as assisting in the heating of the school’s water supply.
Electric vehicle charger installations with Enel:
Two electric vehicle chargers made from recycled materials will be deployed in the region of Kangerlussuaq. This will be placed outside the rental car company and outside the municipal building in order to help support the transition of the municipality from almost fully reliant on diesel generated energy to renewable energy.
Essential medical equipment with MDD Medical:
Trauma equipment is currently not available in Kangerlussuaq, but will be brought over for the event and left for the local health centre to utilise. Local medical providers will be trained.
Article by Tanny Por
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