Published by the Maritime Executive, October 23, 2024:
In early October, the IMO Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC 82) agreed that the concept of “polar fuels” would be further considered at a technical committee meeting in January, setting a clear pathway for future black carbon regulation.
This new course must see the IMO and its Member States develop mandatory regulations to reduce black carbon emissions – and these new rules must be prepared in a matter of months so that they can be approved at MEPC 83 in April 2025 and adopted by 2026.
Progress is certainly to be welcomed – after all, IMO has been discussing the Arctic impact of black carbon from ships since 2011. There are many ways that ships can reduce their black carbon emissions, but without rules in place, emissions are increasing globally – and have more than doubled in 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 the climate impact of international shipping, which contributes around three percent of all human sources of climate-warming greenhouse gases. Not only does it contribute to warming while in the atmosphere, black carbon also accelerates melting when it falls onto snow and ice.
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The clock is ticking. The IMO and its Member States have just a few months to develop these mandatory regulations, which must be effective in radically reducing black carbon emissions. These new rules can and must be approved at MEPC 83 in April 2025 and adopted by 2026.
Read the full article: Maritime Executive: The IMO’s Black Carbon Rules Are Coming, and Shipping Must Be Ready
