Lloyds List: Arctic black carbon debate stuck in viscous detail, by Declan Bush, Jan 28, 2025, during PPR12:
“The IMO’s hopes of completing its work on black carbon this year have been dashed, but green groups say slow progress is being made”
Clean Arctic Alliance lead adviser Sian Prior said black carbon was unusually potent at speeding up sea ice melt, which had a disproportionate global climate impact.
Prior said a 2021 paper had linked the increase in large wildfires in North America to diminishing Arctic sea ice. Another estimated the first ice-free Arctic periods could be seen as soon as 2030.
“We end up in this cycle that’s just feeding itself,” she said.
Prior told Lloyd’s List that slow progress was being made at the IMO, but any regulation would need buy-in from member states, not just NGOs.
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Clean Arctic Alliance adviser Bill Hemmings said detailed work on the polar fuels concept started at the IMO last year after “10 years of going around in circles”.
But he said advocates now had a “pretty clear definition that now needs to be refined and put into an acceptable wording”
Hemmings added that it was important that marine fuel experts get the opportunity to listen and ask for clarifications on future rules.
No one was suggesting the IMO enact a fuel standard that caused chaos in the parallel talks on cutting greenhouse gas emissions, he added.
The pollution subcommittee, PPR, invited “concrete proposals” from states and NGOs on how to move forward.
“Rome wasn’t built in a day and we’ve got to start somewhere,” Hemmings said.
Lloyds List: Arctic black carbon debate stuck in viscous detail
