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There are currently 11 wildfires blazing in the Arctic circle, The Guardian reported Wednesday. While fires are also raging in Russia, Norway and Finland, Sweden has seen the most extensive Arctic fires, which have forced four communities to evacuate,

As the Arctic melts, oil companies are moving in to drill for more oil. Next year, the Norwegian owned oil company Statoil will drill further north than ever - unless we stop them. An unprecedented case was filed this morning that could do just that. This case is about holding back the oil industry at this final frontier, it is about protecting the beautiful Arctic, and it is about people stepping up to hold governments to account. If we win, millions of barrels of oil could be kept in the ground. We will argue in court that we must take action to keep the Paris climate agreement on track, and we will invoke Norway's constitutional right to a healthy and safe environment for future generations.

Royal Dutch Shell has ceased all offshore drilling in the Arctic after it failed to find sufficient quantities of oil or natural gas that would warrant further exploration.

President Barack Obama announced a new ban on offshore oil and natural gas drilling across broad areas of the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, using part of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act that would make it hard for his successor to reverse the decision. "They'll be arguing about this for years in the courts," said environmental lawyer Patrick Parenteau.

In the Arctic Ocean, some ice stays frozen year-round, lasting for many years before melting. But this winter, the region hit a record low for ice older than five years.

With the Keystone XL and other pipeline projects running into stiff opposition, Alberta's tar sands industry is facing growing pressure to find ways to get its oil to market. One option under consideration would be to ship the oil via an increasingly ice-free Arctic Ocean.

Lego is putting cash before kids and the environment, says a Greenpeace report that calls on the world's biggest toy company to stop making toys with Shell's branding. Greenpeace says the oil giant is threatening the Arctic and that Shell is using Lego to neutralize controversy over its climate impacts and plans to drill for oil in the Arctic.

Shell is set to confront the risk that climate change may pose to its future, after backing a resolution from activist shareholders. The move came on the same day it announced $15bn (£10bn) in cost cutting due to plummeting oil prices and said it wanted to resume drilling for oil in the Arctic.

While national leaders spout optimistic platitudes celebrating the great achievement of the globally unifying Paris Agreement on climate, environmentalists note that there is little in the way of substantial action plans behind the many promises made last December. Meanwhile, the most intense El Niño in history is leaving in its wake a world gripped by 7 months of record high temperatures; drought, water shortages, and famine (especially in India and Africa); wildfires (Fort McMurray, Canada); record coral bleaching; and a fast shrinking Arctic ice cap that set stunning early melt records this winter and spring.

Toymaker will not renew current multimillion pound deal, that sees Shell-branded Lego sets sold at petrol stations, following a viral video against Arctic drilling by the green group

Greenpeace continued its campaign against LEGO on Tuesday with the release of a dramatic video, called "Everything Is NOT Awesome," aimed at further illustrating the reasons the toy company should sever its ties with Shell, which Greenpeace contends is putting the delicate Arctic marine environment at risk through its oil drilling.