We Make the Future! Utopias of a Climate-Responsible World 2035 – Arctic Snapshots

The report introduces three scenarios portraying pathways to imagined worlds where the norm of climate responsibility shapes all sectors of society globally and regionally. While set in the Arctic region, the narratives offer snapshots of global dynamics, such as great power relations, resource politics, and social injustices. In each scenario, the ethos of the imagined world differs depending on the scope and drivers of climate responsibility.

Funded by the Kone Foundation, “Climate Responsibility as a Normative Cornerstone of Multilateral Cooperation?” Project was conducted at the Arctic Centre of the University of Lapland, Finland, from spring 2022 to summer 2025. To encourage critical thinking about fundamental political and economic transformations required to tackle climate change, the project asked: What kinds of developments would elevate the norm of climate responsibility as a key norm of international society by 2035? We invited a group of established scholars and other experts to join a participatory scenario-building process to capture the richness of imagination and a wide range of sophisticated answers to this question.