6 March, 2025: – Responding to reports from EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service that global sea ice cover reached a record low in February, the Clean Arctic Alliance today called on the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the shipping sector to slash black carbon emissions from shipping in the Arctic region.
“With the Arctic warming four times faster than the rest of the planet, and global sea ice hitting a record low, the IMO and its member states must take urgent action to arrest the increasing emissions of black carbon from the shipping sector”, said Dr Sian Prior, Lead Advisor to the Clean Arctic Alliance. “If all shipping currently still using heavy fuel oils while in the Arctic were to switch to cleaner distillate fuel, there would be an immediate reduction in black carbon emissions from these ships. If diesel particulate filters were installed on board all Arctic vessels, black carbon emissions from shipping could be reduced by over 90%”.
“IMO Member States must urgently take steps to develop a new regulation in Annex VI of the MARPOL Convention – the international convention which regulates discharges and emissions from ships, in order to address one of the longest running issues on the IMO’s agenda – reducing the impact of black carbon emissions on the Arctic”, said Prior. “This new rule must mean that only polar fuels – fuels that result in low or zero emissions of black carbon – can be used in and near to the Arctic.”
“The good news is at a recent meeting of the IMO’s Pollution Prevention and Response sub-committee in January (PPR 12), the marine fuel industry set out the fuel quality characteristics of distillate grade fuels such as DMA which should replace the current use of residual fuels in the Arctic and lower ship black carbon emissions”, said Bill Hemmings, Black Carbon Advisor to the Clean Arctic Alliance. “These characteristics could form the basis of a new mandatory IMO regulation. Furthermore it was made clear that these fuels – dubbed ‘polar fuels’ – are both readily and widely available globally and far easier to clean up if spilt than residual fuels. This is a significant step forwards to a definition of polar fuels, which should also include low or zero carbon fuels being developed to reduce ship GHG emissions, and can finally lead to real cuts in shipping’s climate impacts on the Arctic.”
Black carbon will be addressed next by the IMO at PPR 13, likely in early 2026.
About Black Carbon and the Arctic
In a paper submitted to the IMO’s Marine Environment Protection Committee in 2024, (MEPC 82/5/2*: Regulating Black Carbon emissions from international shipping impacting the Arctic) NGOs called on IMO Member States to consider the development of a new regulation for inclusion in MARPOL Annex VI (the main international treaty addressing air pollution prevention requirements from ships) which would identify suitable polar fuels, for example distillate fuels, such DMA or DMZ, to deliver an immediate fuel-based reduction in black carbon emissions from international shipping impacting the Arctic. The paper develops the concept of “polar fuels” discussed previously at PPR 11 and sets out the fuel characteristics that would distinguish polar fuels from residual fuels and thus lead to fuel-based reductions in ship Black Carbon emissions if mandated for use in and near the Arctic.
Black carbon is a short-lived climate pollutant, produced by the incomplete burning of fossil fuels, with an impact more than three thousand times that of CO2 over a 20 year period. It makes up around one-fifth of international shipping’s climate impact. Not only does it contribute to warming while in the atmosphere, black carbon accelerates melting if deposited onto snow and ice – hence it has a disproportionate impact when released in and near to the Arctic. The melting snow and ice exposes darker areas of land and water and these dark patches then absorb further heat from the sun and the reflective capacity of the planet’s polar ice caps is severely reduced. More heat in the polar systems – results in increased melting. This is the loss of the albedo effect. Recently in its 6th Assessment Report, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) doubled the estimate of the warming potential of black carbon on snow and ice due to a better understanding of its warming impact.
Declines in sea ice extent and volume are leading to a burgeoning social and environmental crisis in the Arctic, while cascading changes are impacting global climate and ocean circulation. Scientists have high confidence that processes are nearing points beyond which rapid and irreversible changes on the scale of multiple human generations are possible. Scientists say it is now too late to save summer Arctic sea ice, and research has shown that “preparations need to be made for the increased extreme weather across the northern hemisphere that is likely to occur as a result.”
Black carbon also has a negative impact on human health, and recent research has found black carbon particles in the body tissues of foetuses, following inhalation by pregnant mothers.
The need to reduce emissions of black carbon because of both the climate and health impacts has been long recognised. On land, considerable effort has been made to ban dirtier fuels in power stations, to install diesel particulate filters on land-based transport, and to improve the burning of dry wood – all to reduce emissions of black carbon and improve air quality. However, at sea the same efforts have not yet been made.
Source:
Copernicus: Global sea ice cover at a record low and third-warmest February globally
The Guardian: Global sea ice hit ‘all-time minimum’ in February, scientists say
Relevant IMO Papers on black carbon:
- PPR 12-6: Polar fuels
- PPR 12/6/1: Reduction of the Impact on the Arctic of Black Carbon Emissions From International Shipping
- PPR 12/6/2: Reduction of the Impact on the Arctic of Black Carbon Emissions From International Shipping- Arctic Climate Crisis
ENDS
Contact:
Dave Walsh, Communications Advisor, [email protected], +34 691 826 764
About the Clean Arctic Alliance
Made up of 24 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: Alaska Wilderness League, Bellona, Clean Air Task Force, Ecology and Development Foundation ECODES, Environmental Investigation Agency, Equal Routes, Eurasian Wildlife and Peoples, Friends of the Earth US, Global Choices, Green Global Future, Green Transition Denmark, Greenpeace, Iceland Nature Conservation Association, International Cryosphere Climate Initiative, Nature And Biodiversity Conservation Union, 90 North Foundation, Ocean Conservancy, Pacific Environment, Seas At Risk, Surfrider Foundation Europe, Stand.Earth, Transport & Environment, WWF and Zero.
More more information visit https://www.cleanarctic.org/
