The Arctic Council consists of the eight Arctic states (Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the US) and six permanent participants (indigenous peoples’ organisations). The Chairship of the Arctic Council rotates between the eight member states. It is the Arctic Council’s ministerial meetings that approve the work plans and projects to be carried out under the Council. The ministerial meeting is usually held every other year, and decisions are made by consensus. The Senior Arctic Officials (SAO) are responsible for managing the Council’s activities in the period between ministerial meetings.  Norway chaired the Arctic Council from 11 May 2023 to 12 May 2025. For the period 2025-2027 the Council will be chaired by the Kingdom of Denmark.

 There have been no ministerial meetings or formal in-person meetings at Senior Arctic Official (SAO) level since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The last two official Arctic Council meetings in Salekhard, Russia in 2023 and Tromsø in 2025 were held in a virtual meeting format at SAO level.

The main goals of Norway’s Chairship (2023-2025) were to ensure that the Arctic Council remained intact with all its eight Arctic member states and to resume the Council’s important work on key issues. Norway received a lot of praise for steering the Council through challenging times, for safeguarding the Council, and for opening up for regular virtual meetings of the six working groups, which form the backbone of the Council’s work.   

Indigenous peoples represent an important voice on the Arctic Council, through the participation of the six indigenous peoples’ organisations as Permanent Participants. It is crucial that the various perspectives of the indigenous peoples are consistently included in discussions and projects carried out under the Council. Close cooperation with the Permanent Participants is vital for ensuring effective dialogue within the Arctic Council.

 Currently, 13 states and 25 organisations have observer status in the Arctic Council. Several countries have expressed an interest in applying for observer status.

Effective cooperation on priority issues

The Arctic Council produces important research and knowledge about key developments in the Arctic. The assessments produced by the Arctic Council’s working groups on climate change and pollutants in the Arctic in particular have gained broad recognition and have been an important contribution to the efforts to develop international environmental conventions. Already in 2004, the Council (The working groups AMAP and CAFF) produced the first comprehensive multi-disciplinary assessment of the impacts of climate change in the Arctic, the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (ACIA) report. An updated version of this report was published in 2025 (read summary for policy-makers here).

Key priorities in the work of the Council include safeguarding Arctic biodiversity, integrated ocean management, emergency preparedness and response, and pilot projects aimed at reducing pollution in the Arctic, including marine litter. The Arctic states have also used the Arctic Council as an arena for developing legally binding international agreements, for example on search and rescue, and on oil spill preparedness and response in the Arctic.

The work of the Arctic Council is organised under the following six working groups:

Norway participates actively in all of the working groups and plays a leading role in a range of priority projects, including those on marine litter and on climate change impacts in the Arctic.

The Arctic Council Secretariat was established in 2013 and is located in Tromsø. Also located in Tromsø are the Indigenous Peoples’ Secretariat (IPS) and the secretariats for AMAP and EPPR.

The Arctic in a changing climate

The temperature in the Arctic is rising three to four times faster than the global annual average. This has profound implications for nature and the people living in the region. The causes of temperature rise in the Arctic are pre-dominantly traced, traced to activities outside the region. This is why it is so important to find global climate solutions to and to incorporate Arctic issues into global frameworks and conventions.

The changes occurring in the Arctic have various impacts on the people who live in the region. Arctic communities, in particular indigenous communities, are already contending with challenges as a result of climate change. There is a clear need for measures that can enhance adaptability and facilitate the green transition. At the same time, the Arctic offers opportunities for sustainable economic development that can provide benefits for local communities as well as opportunities for innovation that will have positive spin-off effects far beyond the region’s geographical boundaries.