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If the young Greenlandic company Arctic Ice claims to do everything to protect the environment, ice transport over 7,000 km remains absurd, according to glacier specialists.
Published on January 11, 2024 06:45
Reading time: 1 min
Icebergs in Greenland, August 30, 2019. Illustrative image. (MEDIADRUMIMAGES/JOESHUTTER / MAXPPP)
This may seem absurd, but it is still true. If you travel to Dubai, you will undoubtedly have the opportunity to sip a cocktail… with ice cubes imported directly from Greenland. At least that's what the young Greenlandic company Arctic Ice, founded in 2022, is offering, which collects pieces of ice detached from icebergs and sends them to luxury restaurants in the Emirates.
The marketing arguments cannot be stopped. On its website, Arctic Ice extols the virtues of its ice cubes “of incomparable purity” from glaciers over 100,000 years old. Glaciologist Heïdi Sevestre recognizes it, it's quite attractive. “Yes, it’s a bit exotic, that’s for sure. It is true that glacier ice has the property of being very poor in minerals and that is why water sommelies usually award medals to this ice because it is very pure.”
The CO2 footprint is “stratospheric”
But sending it to Dubai, more than 7,000 kilometers away, is absurd, she thinks. Especially since Greenland is one of the regions that is warming up the fastest. “If the Arctic is warming so quickly, it is precisely because of the burning of fossil fuels, sometimes to transport goods to the ends of the world,” adds the glaciologist. And even if this startup talks about using boats instead of planes, there is no doubt that the carbon footprint is stratospheric.”
Company officials say they are working to reduce their carbon footprint. And after exporting 20,000 tons of ice cream last year, they hope to win over even more customers.
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