Svalbard in danger - 4th January 2023

There's an Arctic group of islands near the North Pole called Svalbard. They're part of Norway. Svalbard attracts many tourists. They go to see the polar bears, northern lights and the midnight sun. Tourists usually go by cruise ships or planes. But this is producing lots of CO2 and the Arctic is warming very fast.

Svalbard's tourism business is trying to be eco-friendly. But Ronny Brunvoll says Svalbard's CO2 level is very high.

Ronny Brunvoll: "The really big problem is, is the transport to and from Svalbard. Both in tourism but also us as locals that live here. We have a climate footprint per capita in Longyearbyen that is insane."

In 2022, cruise ships, which use harmful fuel, were banned from Svalbard. Hurtigruten, a Norwegian cruise company, is using technology to be more eco-friendly. The company director, Tore Hoem, explains.

Tore Hoem:""Well, we try to, to be as, as sustainable as technology allows us and this is for us a big step forward in that direction. And we hope to sort of make a difference and help technology go forward."

Svalbard used to have coal mines as its main business. But most of them closed. Now, tourism's the main source of income. But this is destroying Svalbard's climate.

Børre Haugli says Svalbard wants the money from tourism, but it also wants to protect the environment.

Børre Haugli: "The tourist industry themself in Svalbard want to have sustainable industry and they develop themself into more sustainable activities. But I think we are on the limit of, of how many tourists we can cope with."