Answer: The potential opening of new shipping lanes as a result of melting polar ice north of Canada and Russia would be an example of climate change creating global trade links for some regions.
Explanation:
The Arctic is warming twice as fast as the rest of the planet and its sea ice sheet is undergoing a profound transformation that had not occurred in millennia. Global warming and, consequently, climate change is the main cause of Arctic ice melting rapidly to the prosperity of some and to the disgust of others. Satellite observations have revealed that the region is losing sea ice at a dramatic pace and this decline is expected to continue. If the current trend of climate change prevails, the disappearance of Arctic sea ice will be before 2040.
This loss of sea ice is creating opportunities for shorter global trade links. The warming of the Arctic waters and the constant withdrawal of sea ice is opening new sea lanes that were for centuries under the eternal ice without being navigable. This would create the greatest restructuring of maritime trade routes globally since the opening of the Panama Canal route in 1914.
For global maritime transport, trans-Arctic routes will offer the opportunity to significantly reduce travel distances between Europe and the Far East, and thus save on fuel, labor and greenhouse gas emissions.
