Port of Churchill offers a chance for an Arctic shipping green corridor
By Andrew Dumbrille and Elissama Menezes
Originally published by the National Observer | November 13th 2025
A cargo ship leaves the Port of Churchill to resupply northern communities in 2024. By the time Churchill’s LNG infrastructure is operational, Europe may no longer need Canadian fossil gas, risking stranded assets, massive debts and a ‘gas to nowhere’ scenario. Photo courtesy: Arctic Gateway Group
Fuelled by the US trade war, the Port of Churchill — Canada’s only Arctic deepwater port — has been praised as a cornerstone of the “nation-building” mission to move liquefied fossil gas (also known as liquefied natural gas or LNG) and critical minerals to global markets. The federal pitch may be about growth, new transport corridors, and global reach, but the reality is potential trade-offs that fall on local communities, Indigenous Peoples, and the broader Arctic region.
Nearly a century old, the Port of Churchill will require substantial upgrades to meet projected demand: expanded storage capacity, improved railway infrastructure, dredging, wharf reconstruction. Yet heavy ice limits the port’s operations to span only two months of the year, making this so-called opportunity a bet on a worsening climate crisis and the continued melting of Arctic ice to extend its operating season. Governance of the expansion also raises concerns: Churchill’s mayor of the past 30 years is also the chair of the board of Arctic Gateway Group, the consortium driving the development push.
Positioned as the leading export to justify Churchill’s expansion, LNG is precisely what Canada and the world cannot rely on to deliver prosperity, well-being, and climate action. Almost entirely methane — a greenhouse gas 82 times more potent than CO2 over 20 years — Canada’s LNG is no cleaner than other sources of LNG globally, and in some cases, even worse. Fracking for gas pollutes local water supplies, while air emissions harm both local and global population health. To make matters worse, by the time Churchill’s LNG infrastructure is operational, Europe may no longer need Canadian fossil gas, risking stranded assets, massive debts, and a ‘gas to nowhere’ scenario.
A responsible plan for Churchill must center on the health and well being of its people and environment and connect to a vision for Arctic trade through shipping green corridors.
At COP26 in Glasgow, the UK led the Clydebank Initiative, with multiple European signatories committing to putting in place a framework for green shipping corridors: zero-emission maritime routes between two or more ports. Coupled with the International Maritime Organization's new net-zero framework, which strives for 80 per cent emissions reductions by 2040 and zero by 2050, it ushered in a new paradigm for lower emissions in the sector. In this context, green and renewable fuels are available for bunkering at both ends of the shipping voyage. Canada and Germany operationalized this vision by connecting Halifax and Hamburg, where both ports will have renewable fuel available at scale for vessels to refuel.
These corridors also offer an unique opportunity to address not only greenhouse gas emissions but the broader triple planetary crisis of climate, biodiversity loss, and pollution. Churchill is home to unique biodiversity including beluga whales, and incorporating measures for vessels to reduce noise — along with minimizing water and air pollution -– would deliver co-benefits that extend far beyond the town, positively impacting the entire region.
Before the rush to develop Churchill gathers further momentum, it is critical to define what development, trade and an Arctic green or low impact shipping corridor could be. Canadian efforts at the Arctic Council and domestically through Transport Canada’s Northern Low-Impact Shipping Corridors Initiative have begun this work, not only defining corridors but also establishing governance structures which attempt to include Indigenous leadership. However, progress on community engagement and operationalizing these corridors has largely stalled, in part due to COVID, and these efforts should be revived quickly.
“By the time Churchill’s LNG infrastructure is operational, Europe may no longer need Canadian fossil gas, risking stranded assets, massive debts, and a ‘gas to nowhere’ scenario. ”
The Clean Arctic Alliance has articulated a practical starting point for a comprehensive vision. Their 2022 framework integrates greenhouse gas reduction and low-impact shipping corridors, underpinned by justice and equity. Measures include shore power for vessels, low-emission ‘Polar Fuels’ that reduce black carbon emissions, routing measures to account for Inuit use areas and wildlife migration paths, underwater noise thresholds to limit harm to ecosystems, mandatory biofouling measures and restricted ballast water release zones in sensitive areas to reduce the risk of spreading invasive species, discharge restrictions on gray/black water and scrubbers, and speed limits with co-benefits of improved efficiency, reduced whale strikes, and cuts in underwater noise and fuel costs.
Churchill has the potential to chart an ambitious path for Canada: one that prioritizes people and biodiversity over the economic gain of a few, showing how trade and shipping can be structured around local communities, wildlife, and the environment. By advancing the Low-Impact Shipping Corridor Initiative under Indigenous leadership and through an intersectional lens that delivers co-benefits for climate, people, and biodiversity, Churchill could become a true game-changer for Canada and the Arctic.
Andrew Dumbrille and Elissama Menezes are Co-Directors at Equal Routes, a member of the Clean Arctic Alliance and Canadian non-profit focusing on shipping sustainability, decarbonization, and ocean health.
