Arctic, research and innovation

This booklet outlines key aspects of ongoing EU-funded Arctic research and innovation. Climate change is the main cause of Arctic changes, and therefore the investigation on its mechanisms, its consequences and its evolution is the main subject of Arctic research. The Arctic, despite being home to only about 4 million people – a fraction of the world population of 7.6 billion – is the canary in the mine of climate change. The Arctic is warming because of greenhouse gas emissions generated by human activities mainly elsewhere and at a much faster rate than in other parts of the planet because of a phenomenon known as ‘Arctic amplification’.