(Image Credit: Greenland's capital Nuuk in 2025. Steffen Trumpf/dpa/ZUMA)
The world’s largest island is known for its vast ice sheet, sprawling fjords and abundance of wildlife—from polar bears to narwhals.
It’s also one of the latest targets in President Donald Trump’s bid for US energy and military expansion. Since his first term, Trump has talked of securing Greenland for its critical minerals, untapped oil reserves, opportunities for military positioning and central location in the international shipping network, particularly as melting sea ice opens up new trade routes. Now, he is pushing for a Greenland land grab with renewed vigor, offering to purchase the island from Denmark or even potentially take it by force.
But the same warming temperatures that may transform the island into a trading hotspot are making it more inhospitable to development, research shows. Thawing permafrost and ice triggers landslides along jagged fjords and destabilizes the landscapes that infrastructure would need to lie on top of, while loose sea ice makes passing through Greenland’s waters a perilous journey.
Oil and gas companies around the world are facing similar issues as the very climate impacts they helped cause are threatening operations.
