On Tuesday this week, Inatsisartut will discuss proposals to change time zone and return to the time zone UTC -3, which was used before the change in March 2023. The issue of abolishing daylight saving time will be discussed at the same time.
The proposals have been sent for consideration by the Law Committee, and the committee has now come up with its recommendation, which is to stay in the current time zone but in return, the committee majority wants daylight saving time to be abolished.
Daylight saving time is to be abolished with effect from 1 January 2027 or at the latest with effect from 1 January 2028, the committee majority writes in its report. The committee wants the Government of Greenland to announce on Tuesday whether it will follow the majority's wishes.
It has otherwise been the position of Naalakkersuisut that the abolition of summer time should wait until the EU abolishes summer time. If summer time is abolished in Greenland, the time difference to Denmark and Europe will increase by one hour during the summer time period.
The majority in the committee consists of the coalition parties Demokraatit, Inuit Ataqatigiit and Atassut. The opposition party Naleraq is on the committee and does not support the committee majority.
Former politician wants to demonstrate
The committee's report has prompted former politician Qupanuk Olsen to call for demonstrations on Monday at 12 noon before the discussion in Inatsisartut on Tuesday.
- We want to get our time zone back to UTC -3 and abolish summer time, writes Qupanuk Olsen in a post on Facebook.
Her post has been shared 393 times at the time of writing, which shows that the discussion about the time zone affects many people.
Qupanuk Olsen was elected to Inatsisartut in 2025 and attracted a lot of attention for her cause: a return to the previously used time zone. However, Qupanuk Olsen has since left Inatsisartut to take up a job as director of KTI, Tech College Greenland in Sisimiut.
Committee notes business community objections
The committee's report states that the committee notes that the noticeable consequences for the individual citizen in connection with the transition to another time zone and the transition to summer/winter time are largely subjectively determined.
Therefore, no clear evidence has been found for any positive consequences of returning to the old time zone.
In addition, the Committee notes that several consultation responses draw attention to the resulting negative economic consequences for, for example, business and tourism.
- Air Greenland in particular is expected to be negatively affected by a return to the previous time zone, where the Committee notes that this will also likely have an impact on ticket prices, especially on domestic routes, the Law Committee writes in the report.
If the proposals to return to UTC-3 and abolish daylight saving time were implemented, it would create a time difference with Europe and Denmark of 5 hours during the daylight saving time period. The report states that Greenland Business considers this outcome to be directly detrimental to cooperation with Greenland's primary markets in Europe and Denmark.
Naleraq protests
The opposition party Naleraq protests in a so-called minority opinion the decision of the committee majority.
Naleraq does not accept Air Greenland's explanations that a time zone change will lead to more expensive tickets:
"Naleraq notes that Air Greenland has not documented that the transition to UTC-2 has created increased revenue, which is also why the transition has not resulted in cheaper airline tickets, etc. Nevertheless, great importance is placed on the company's claims of alleged lost revenue by a return to UTC-3," writes Naleraq and continues:
"It appears as if the entire population's daily rhythms are to be arranged according to a business model where the transatlantic flight presupposes personnel and planning based in Denmark, rather than the company making the necessary adjustments based on Greenland's population."
