On September 24-25, 2026, a workshop was held in Ispra, Italy, bringing together scientists and policy makers from Europe to discuss “Critical infrastructure resilience and security in the Arctic” and exploring synergies with projects and initiatives. It was the closing event of the FROST-QUAKE project (Climate change impact on critical infrastructure in the northern hemisphere: thawing permafrost in earthquake-prone areas), established at the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre and organized in view of the EU’s actions towards a more climate-resilient Arctic. The session topics span from “climate change and geological hazards”, over “novel technologies and machine learning methods” to “science for policy developments”, with a focus on industrial infrastructures, energy security and societal resilience. The presentations and discussions demonstrated the importance of
- availability of environmental data,
- profound assessments of risks and resilience of Arctic infrastructure, and
- international cooperation (scientists and decision makers).
There are clear opportunities for continued and future collaboration with the permafrost community.
© Adapted from https://www.grida.no/resources/5234, Hugo Ahlenius, UNEP/GRID-Arendal