NGOs call on ministers meeting in Stockholm to back IMO regulation on polar fuels

Ahead of next week’s session of the Nordic Council, the Clean Arctic Alliance today called on Nordic governments to adopt a resolution on polar fuels during the meeting, and together commit to support an International Maritime Organization (IMO) regulation that would require cleaner maritime fuels, which would result in lower emissions of black carbon by ships when operating in the Arctic.

The deadline for concrete proposals for such a regulation to be submitted to the thirteenth session of the IMO’s technical committee that addresses pollution prevention and response (PPR13, February 2026) is December 5th.

“Ahead of a crucial meeting of the IMO next February, the Clean Arctic Alliance is calling for the Member States of the International Maritime Organization to develop and adopt a mandatory regulation which would require that only polar fuels can be used by shipping in the Arctic”, said Dr Sian Prior, Lead Advisorto the Clean Arctic Alliance. “A resolution on polar fuels adopted by Nordic governments next week would send a strong message to IMO Member States that action is urgently needed to protect the Arctic from the impacts of shipping emissions.”

“Black carbon is a climate superpollutant produced when fossil fuels are burned”, said Prior. “Black carbon has a disproportionate impact because it both heats the atmosphere – and when released from ship exhausts and when near to the Arctic it settles onto snow and ice, speeding up the melting and exposing darker land and sea beneath, which continue to absorb more heat. It is the loss of the planet’s reflectivity – or albedo – which is contributing to the fast pace of warming seen in the Arctic.”

“Black carbon emissions from ships burning oil-based fuels have more than doubled in the last decade, yet a simple and easy solution is to require shipping to use widely available distillate fuels with lower black carbon emissions when operating in and near to the Arctic”, said Prior.

About Black Carbon, Polar Fuels, and 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.

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 processesare 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 including premature death and harmful effects on the cardiovascular system (heart, blood and blood vessels), 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.

In a paper submitted to a meeting of the IMO’s Marine Environment Protection Committee (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 at technical subcommittee meeting (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. Polar fuels were discussed further at a meeting of the PPR technical subcommittee in January 2025, following which the Clean Arctic Alliance welcomed the broad support from IMO member states, and parts of the fuel and shipping industry, for the further development of the polar fuels concept.