Stronger regulation could eliminate soot from ship exhaust which is accelerating warming, particularly in the Arctic, writes Isabelle Gerretsen
Climate activists with the Clean Arctic Alliance sounded the alarm this week that negotiators could delete a demand by the Parliament that the Commission use a review of FuelEU Maritime to consider changes to the list of pollutants that the regulation covers.
The International Maritime Organization took incremental steps to protecting marine environments, including in the Arctic, from noise pollution. The voluntary measures, however, do not go far enough, say environmental groups and the Inuit Circumpolar Council, especially for the Arctic Ocean’s sensitive ecosystem.
Lloyds List: IMO makes progress on underwater noise but more action needed, environmental groups say
Shipping body's sub-committee on ship design and construction completes draft guidelines to curb underwater noise pollution
Sarah Bobbe, Arctic program manager at Ocean Conservancy, urged the IMO to act. “In addition to global measures, even more stringent regional measures to reduce acoustic pollution from vessels in areas such as the Arctic will be necessary,” she said.
Eric Priante Martin on TradeWinds, 16 November 2022: At COP27, a bid to lift shipping’s black carbon emissions up the agenda There is perhaps no more iconic front line in the battle against climate change than the Arctic, where scientists say temperatures have risen by three times the global average. That has led to a dangerous feedback loop. Global warming melts the sea ice, but that ice actually helps keep the planet cooler by reflecting some if the sun’s rays, so when it goes away, it threatens to make climate change worse. And this has opened the door to another
Dr Sian Prior, lead adviser to the Clean Arctic Alliance, told The Straits Times that among the big issues are black carbon emissions, which "not only have a bad impact wherever they happen, but have an even greater impact in the Arctic because of the proximity of the snow and the ice".
Op-ed, written by, Sian Prior, Lead Advisor to the Clean Arctic Alliance , Árni Finnsson, Iceland Nature Conservation Association (Náttúruverndarsamtök Íslands) and Kåre Press-Kristiansen, Grøn Omstilling (Green Transition Denmark), published on High North News, August 26th, 2022
“It’s been a loophole for industry to continue burning the cheapest, dirtiest fuels,” says Lucy Gilliam, of Seas at Risk, an association of European environmental organisations.
For too long, the IMO has been out of step with other UN agencies on climate change and is in effect acting as a rogue element within the UN system … The IMO must face up to its responsibilities, putting its priorities in line with the UN on climate change, and use the collective political power and technological know-how of the shipping industry to … drastically limit shipping’s contribution to the global climate crisis,” said Dr Sian Prior, lead advisor to the Clean Arctic Alliance.