To:
Deputy Prime Minister Busch also Minister for Energy, Business and Industry
Minister Pourmokhtari, Minister for Climate and Environment (a junior Minister in the Energy, Business and Industry Ministry)
Minister Carlson, Minister for Infrastructure and Housing (which is where transport seems to sit).
Also copied, to SE Deputy Permanent Rep in Brussels, Torbjorn Haak, and to Swedish Senior Arctic Official Louise Calais.
Dear Minister Busch, Minister Pourmokhtari and Minister Carlson,
I am writing on behalf of the Clean Arctic Alliance, a coalition of 20 non-profits organisations, concerned with the protection of the Arctic from the impacts of shipping, and specifically emissions of black carbon which have a disproportionate impact on Arctic snow and ice and climate heating.
We are dismayed by the news that the Swedish Presidency has removed any reference to including ship black carbon emissions in the review clause of the Fuel EU Maritime Regulation currently being finalised in trilogue negotiations.
As an Arctic nation, Sweden will be fully aware of the ongoing extent of climate breakdown in the Arctic which will lead to catastrophic impacts across the globe. In response to this emergency, the Arctic Council has committed to reducing emissions of black carbon from all sources including shipping by 25 – 33 per cent by 2025. The European Union also committed to lead on mitigating ship Arctic pollution in its 2021 Arctic Strategy.
Currently ship black carbon emissions in the Arctic are completely unregulated, despite the fact that cutting short lived climate forcing pollutants including back carbon can produce immediate results. The International Maritime Organization has spent over a decade deliberating the issue but failing to agree on regulation.
Decisions now being taken on the draft Fuel EU Maritime Regulation are a litmus test of the EU’s and indeed Sweden’s commitment to climate protection. We urge the Swedish Presidency to reconsider the inclusion of black carbon in Article 28 and ensure black carbon emissions are included in the post Regulation review.
Yours sincerely
Dr Sian Prior
Lead Advisor
Clean Arctic Alliance
cc. Torbjorn Haak, Deputy Permanent Representative in Brussels Louise Calais, Sweden Senior Arctic Official
Press release: Is the EU About to Ignore the Impact of Shipping’s Black Carbon Emissions in the Arctic?
