The European Commission has endorsed a strategy that bars the extraction of oil, coal and gas in the Arctic. The policy is intended to prevent new fossil-fuel development in the sensitive northern region. Its adoption places a formal limit on extraction across the Arctic areas covered by the EU rules. Norway, however, continues to produce oil and gas in the Arctic and is not subject to the EU strategy. The difference means the European restrictions will not end northern drilling by themselves. The debate puts the EU's climate position against the energy interests of a major Arctic producer.