The Arctic Council: an agent of change?

•Without clear strategies many of the Councils efforts appear ad-hoc, reactive rather than responsive and without due recourse to forward planning.•When clear and detailed plans are in place to guide the work of the Council as in biodiversity then glimpses can be seen of the potential of the Council to act as an agent of change.•At a fundamental level, the gathering of knowledge by the Council has led to clear impacts on behaviour.•The Council has directly impacted the behaviour of non-Arctic states both in how they engage in the Council and how they act upon its recommendations.