Call for for Switch to Cleaner Shipping Fuel To Cut Arctic Black Carbon Emissions

Infographic: How to regulate and control black carbon emissions from shipping

See full infographic: How to regulate and control black carbon emissions from shipping

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London, 24 April 2023:- As a meeting of the International Maritime Organization’s Pollution Prevention and Response committee opens today (PPR 10), the Clean Arctic Alliance [1] calls on the IMO to radically reduce the impact of black carbon emissions from shipping on Arctic sea and glacier ice, by putting in place a compulsory requirement for ships across the whole Arctic to use cleaner fuels, by switching to distillate fuels.

Clean Arctic Alliance Open Letter to IMO Secretary General Lim, 20 April 2023This follows an open letter published by the Clean Arctic Alliance to IMO Secretary General Kitack Lim, asking him to personally call on all IMO members to now treat the Arctic climate crisis with the urgency that it demands.

“The reduction in black carbon emissions, which are a potent climate forcer, would be achieved through a mandatory fuel switch from dirty residual fuels to distillate fuels by ships operating across the broader Arctic, given the impact that shipping in and close to the Arctic regions can have on sea and glacier ice”, said Dr Sian Prior, Lead Advisor to the Clean Arctic Alliance, a coalition of 20 international non-profit organisations [2].

“The recent IPCC Synthesis Report makes clear that rapid, deep and sustained action is needed across all sectors [3]. To remain on or below a 1.5oC warming trajectory, ship climate impacts must be halved by 2030, with full decarbonisation close to 2040. This must include immediate cuts in black carbon emissions from ships, especially from those operating in and near to the Arctic”, said Prior. 

“It is frustrating that the changes needed to rapidly reduce black carbon emissions from ships were not agreed and implemented when discussions on measures to reduce black carbon commenced over a decade ago,”she added. “Reducing black carbon emissions does not require the development of new fuels, or new technology, it simply requires cleaner fuel choices and the shipping sector catching up with what has been required of land-based power and transport systems for over a decade.”

The Clean Arctic Alliance also calls on IMO Members to bring forward proposals to designate Emission Control Areas (ECAs) in the Arctic and adjacent sea areas such as the north Atlantic where black carbon emitted from ships can reach the Arctic. Other measures that can reduce black carbon emissions in need of urgent action include the development of a strict aromatic fuel standard, as well as putting in place a requirement for installation of diesel particulate filters on ships operating in the Arctic. 

“The Arctic, its wildlife and its people, are running out of time”, added Prior. “In 2010, the IMO Member States recognised the need for action to reduce black carbon emissions from ships – thirteen years later, the IMO must finally support mandatory action for measures that can be implemented quickly, such as a switch to cleaner fuels and use of filters, designation of emission control areas and the development of aromatic fuel standard.”

See also:

Clean Arctic Alliance and related papers submitted to PPR10:

Contact:
Dave Walsh, Communications Advisor, [email protected], +34 691 826 764

Notes:

[1] PPR10, 24-28 April 2023
https://www.imo.org/en/MediaCentre/MeetingSummaries/Pages/PPR-default.aspx
https://www.imo.org/en/MediaCentre/MeetingSummaries/Pages/default.aspx

[2] To date, there is no consensus on the area such a black carbon measure should apply to, but there is a danger that it could be assumed that it should apply to what is termed “Arctic waters” for the Polar Code (see blue boundary in map below), but this would not cover the entire geographical Arctic (see red or green boundaries in map below) and would only address around ¼ of the black carbon emissions coming from ships operating in the Arctic. Around 3/4 of the black carbon from ships in the Arctic is emitted outside of the area termed “Arctic waters”. Any measures aimed at reducing black carbon emissions must apply over the entire Arctic.

Map showing black carbon emissions from ships north of 58.95oN. Courtesy of the International Council on Clean Transportation, 2023.

Map showing black carbon emissions from ships north of 58.95oN. Courtesy of the International Council on Clean Transportation, 2023.

[3] With Arctic Winter Sea Ice at Annual Low, Urgent Need to Slash Shipping Emissions – Clean Arctic Alliance response to IPCC AR6 Synthesis Report, March 20, 2023

https://cleanarctic.org/2023/03/20/arctic_winter_sea_ice_annual_low_need_slash_shipping_emissions/

The AR6 SYR is based on the content of the three Working Groups Assessment Reports: WGI – The Physical Science Basis, WGII – Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability, WGIII – Mitigation of Climate Change, and the three Special Reports: Global Warming of 1.5°C, Climate Change and Land, The Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate

IPCC AR6 Synthesis Report (SYR)
https://www.ipcc.ch/ar6-syr/
https://www.ipcc.ch/report/sixth-assessment-report-cycle/

 

About the Clean Arctic Alliance

Made up of 20 not-for-profit organisations, the Clean Arctic Alliance campaigns to persuade governments to take action to protect the Arctic, its wildlife and its people.

Members include: The Altai Project, Alaska Wilderness League, Bellona, Clean Air Task Force, Green Transition Denmark, Ecology and Development Foundation ECODES, Environmental Investigation Agency, Friends of the Earth US, Global Choices, Greenpeace, Iceland Nature Conservation Association, International Cryosphere Climate Initiative, Nature And Biodiversity Conservation Union, Ocean Conservancy, Pacific Environment, Seas At Risk, Surfrider Foundation Europe, Stand.Earth, Transport & Environment and WWF.

More more information visit https://www.cleanarctic.org/