Climate forum hears of investment interest in Arctic

Having wrecked the world's economy as whole, the titans of finance are turning their attention to the Arctic. Pat Forgey in the Juneau Empire (Alaska) has the story: A major hedge fund manager is developing a new Arctic investment fund to take advantage of moneymaking opportunities in an increasingly ice-free Arctic, a climate change conference was told Saturday. That could help bring needed infrastructure development to the region said Alice Rogoff, publisher of the AlaskaDispatch.com website.

Rogoff spoke to the Juneau World Affairs Council’s “Politics of Global Climate Change” forum that concluded Saturday at the University of Alaska Southeast. Rogoff said Alaska needs to be ready to capitalize on the Arctic’s new investment interest, and wants the state ready to attract some of that new investment in places where it wants and needs the development.

“What is good development, and how can it come about in some sort of orderly way,” she said. The Arctic investment fund that Rogoff revealed will be managed by Guggenheim Partners, a firm with $125 billion in assets under management.

She said the investment interest by Guggenheim Partners of billions in the Arctic was “huge news” that would merit a big headline in the Wall Street Journal — if it knew about it....

Prudhoe Bay oil fields in 1971, US Fish and Wildlife Service