Climate change is improving access to natural resources in the Arctic with consequences for human safety , economic development  and global mitigation efforts . Reductions in sea ice combined with improved extraction and transportation technologies have increased accessibility to natural resources across the Arctic , a situation that could support continued global dependence on relatively cheap and abundant fossil fuels resources and contribute to further warming. By 2040  it is expected that sea ice will have receded enough to make gas production technologically feasible in the European off-shore Arctic . However, increased sea ice mobility, iceberg abundance, storm surge and surface wave action  will also increase risks to ships servicing mines in a region that already exhibits disproportionately high accident rates  . Season lengths for ship-based support to mines and extraction sites will increase with sea ice change, while access via ice roads will decrease with warming . By 2050, climate change impacts to the Tibbitt to Contwoyto Winter Road servicing mines in the northeastern region of the Northwest Territories, Canada
IPCC
Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability
IPCC Report