Deepwater oil drilling in the Arctic

Fragile natural habitats could be exploited as companies take advantage of retreating sea ice in the Arctic oil rush, claims Ben Ayliffe

Yesterday, the Greenland government officially granted permits to the British oil company Cairn Energy to begin new exploratory oil drilling at up to four sites in the deep Arctic seas of Baffin Bay this year.

The approval of these permits means that, this summer, oil drilling off the pristine Greenland coast will happen further north - at greater depths and deeper into the winter months than ever before - despite the risks to this pristine environment, following the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico last year.

These controversial drilling approvals have been granted just two days before the Arctic Council Ministers meets in Greenland. The Arctic is undergoing dramatic changes due to climate change, pollution and ocean acidification - but the council has done almost nothing to protect this fragile region. Talking won't save the Arctic. We need to see measures to defend the region from oil drilling, destructive fishing and shipping.

The high north is becoming the frontline of the global environmental battleground. Shell is operating in the fragile Alaskan environment a year after the Deepwater Horizon spill, lining up to start drilling in one of the world's most pristine natural habitats despite the terrible risks of a spill there. As climate change causes the sea ice to retreat, oil companies are rushing in to extract the fossil fuels that caused the melt in the first place. It is madness; you do not put out a fire with gasoline. Rather than drilling in the Arctic, we should be extracting oil from the car industry by driving up the efficiency of their vehicles and forcing them to use new clean technologies.

With the latest trailblazing agreement, we have seen the sparking of a new Arctic oil rush. There is a risk that we will also see other regions like Alaska and Siberia put under threat. Freezing temperatures, severe weather and a highly remote location pose unprecedented challenges to any oil spill response and mean a spill could be very difficult – if not, impossible - to contain and clean up. That is one major reason why deep sea oil drilling in this pristine wilderness is so risky and represents a huge threat to important wildlife and habitats that are already under stress from climate change. Baffin Bay is home to almost all of the world's narwhal populations as well as blue whales, sea bird colonies and polar bears.

Our oil addiction is seeing us lurch from one oil crisis to the next. It was only about 12 months ago that BP's tragedy unfolded in the Gulf of Mexico. Since then we've seen oil price hikes hurt the global economic recovery and drive up the cost of food and transport. Now, as global warming sees the Arctic sea ice retreating, the oil industry wants to start deep sea drilling in one of the world's most fragile and important wilderness areas - despite the terrible risks of a spill there.

We can change course and protect the Arctic, but only if we can force the foot-dragging corporations and the politicians who back them to embrace measures that can curb our dependence on oil. The key is to take the trillions set to be invested in oil and to invest it in ramping up the efficiency of vehicles and rolling out new clean technologies. That way we can start ending our addiction to oil and so protect the Arctic, defend the climate and create new clean energy jobs and industries.

Ben Ayliffe is a senior campaigner for Greenpeace