The recent decades in central and north Greenland are consistently warmer than any other period since the past millennium. The temperature has risen by 1.5 ± 0.4 degrees Celsius since ad 1000 until 2011, and it has exceeded the range of pre-industrial temperature variability with high probability. The warming trend might further accelerate the overall Greenland mass loss, implying significant environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks, including risks to water and weather.

The Greenland Ice Sheet is pivotal in the global climate system because of its size, radiative effects, and freshwater storage. However, the imprint of global warming in the central part of the ice sheet is unclear due to missing long-term observations.

Temperature reconstruction

This study reconstructed a high-quality temperature record to isolate the global warming signature from natural variability. The team systematically re-drilled ice cores in central and north Greenland to create a temperature reconstruction since ad 1000 until 2011. Unlike previous reconstructions, this method reduced the noise level and included the most recent decades.

Temperature variability

The warming process since ad 1800 has a disproportionately high effect on the recent reconstruction. The authors suggest that the exceptional temperature rise stems from the superposition of natural variability with a long-term warming trend. The warming trend is likely influenced by anthropogenic activities that mainly account for greenhouse gas emissions.

Location

The coastal regions in Greenland are already experiencing warming temperatures, while the central parts are less certain due to the lack of long-term observations. This study addresses the gap in the literature and reconstructs a temperature record that shows Greenland’s current central and north regions are consistent with the global warming signature.

Natural variability and recent warming

Temperature reconstructions from North and Central Greenland provide evidence for quantifying how extraordinary the recent temperature changes are in the region. Climate models tend to underestimate regional climate variability and are difficult to validate; therefore, instrumental records are often short. The high-quality reconstruction of temperatures in this study provides a baseline to gauge future warming events and assess their impact on ESG issues in Greenland.

Recommendations

The authors suggest that the disproportionate warming and increased Greenland meltwater run-off implies that anthropogenic influence has also arrived in central and north Greenland, which might further accelerate mass loss. These risks are critical to organisations with exposure to ESG risks. It is recommended that organisations perform stress tests and scenario analyses to assess the potential impact of ESG risks on their portfolios. This study also highlights the need for continued research and long-term observations on global warming’s impact on regions that are relatively unexplored, such as the central parts of Greenland.

This report contributes a critical piece of evidence to global efforts to prove the catastrophic impact of global warming on the planet’s climate. The report provides unambiguous evidence for the exceptional temperature rise in the recent decades, particularly in regions with sparse data, such as central and north Greenland. The report also emphasises the need for organisations to recognise and address the ESG issues associated with global warming. This report should bring to the fore organisations’ role in mitigating ESG risks by implementing high ESG standards to address climate change challenges such as water management, carbon emissions, and waste reduction.