This autumn, Greenland will not switch to winter time again, and not next year either. Parliament’s decision to make daylight saving time year-round means that the island comes one hour closer to Europe half the year.
By staying in daylight saving time when most European countries change to winter time this fall, the idea is that residents will get an extra hour of daylight in the afternoons and an extra hour to do business with Europe. Then Greenland will be three hours behind Copenhagen, instead of four hours as it was in previous winters.
“The time zone change marks an exciting new beginning, an equal connection to North America and Europe, and an opportunity to slow down in a fast-paced world,” writes the local government’s tourism organization Visit Greenland in a statement.
Both the US and Europe are still debating whether the twice-yearly time changes should continue.
The sparsely populated island of Greenland geographically belongs to the North American continent but belongs politically to Europe as part of Denmark, and since 1979 has a large measure of autonomy. Greenland’s southernmost tip is more than 320 miles from Copenhagen.