Greenland parliament to vote February on time zone change
Hanna Hviid reported in Sermitsiaq last month[1] (in Danish) that Inatsisartut, Greenland's parliament, plans to debate in February whether to revert the 2023 change to Greenland's clocks. It seems like there's a good chance something will pass. Although the details are unclear, presumably this would affect clocks starting in fall 2026. I found out about this by running across last month's "Iceland’s Old Timezone Controversy Echoes in Greenland"[2], by the Iceland Review's Michael Chapman. [1]: https://www.sermitsiaq.ag/samfund/pele-beskylder-udvalg-for-at-forhale-overg... [2]: https://www.icelandreview.com/news/icelands-old-timezone-controversy-echoes-...
On Sun, 7 Dec 2025 at 04:08, Paul Eggert via tz <tz@iana.org> wrote:
It seems like there's a good chance something will pass. Although the details are unclear, presumably this would affect clocks starting in fall 2026.
Since, for much of the territory, this would likely entail moving from −02/−01 back to −03/−02 if a straightforward reversion is adopted, it could be accomplished more easily in the spring by not changing clocks forward on the weekend of 2026-03-28/29. -- Tim Parenti
On 2025-12-07 06:08, Tim Parenti wrote:
Since, for much of the territory, this would likely entail moving from −02/−01 back to −03/−02 if a straightforward reversion is adopted, it could be accomplished more easily in the spring by not changing clocks forward on the weekend of 2026-03-28/29.
Oh, good point. I think Inatsisartut knows about technical problems involved in voting in February to change rules starting in March, which means any change would likely take effect March 2027 instead. This appears to be related to whether (and how quickly) Greenland should become independent from Denmark. Hviid's Danish-language article[1] that I cited earlier says the Siumut and Naleraq parties (both pro-independence, though differing in speed) favor reverting but have differing proposals; I don't know what the differences are. Air Greenland opposes reverting, as keeping Greenland's clocks one hour closer to Europe's means flights to Europe are considered local not long-haul, which means flight crews have much simpler rest provisions that lessen Air Greenland's costs significantly. Hviid also has a Danish-language article about that.[2] Presumably pro-independence parties are not happy about the symbolism of being closer to Denmark's nominal time. [1]: https://www.sermitsiaq.ag/samfund/pele-beskylder-udvalg-for-at-forhale-overg... [2]: https://www.sermitsiaq.ag/samfund/jacob-nitter-sorensen-tre-timer-til-europa...
On Sun, 7 Dec 2025 at 13:16, Paul Eggert <eggert@cs.ucla.edu> wrote:
I think Inatsisartut knows about technical problems involved in voting in February to change rules starting in March, which means any change would likely take effect March 2027 instead.
Indeed, for the prior change affecting much of the territory, broadly speaking, the bills passed in November 2022, about a year before first affecting UT offsets by not falling back in October 2023. Of course, Ittoqqortoormiit (America/Scoresbysund) later reached the current shared −02/−01 state from the opposite direction by not springing forward in March 2024. So it will be interesting to see just how much of this might get unwound. -- Tim Parenti
participants (2)
-
Paul Eggert -
Tim Parenti