Ahead of next week’s meeting of the International Maritime Organization’s  Marine Environment Protection Committee , the Clean Arctic Alliance is calling on Arctic states to step-up on efforts to regulate black carbon emissions from international shipping and define the geographical extent for a polar fuels measure, and for IMO member states to act on a number of crucial issues, including adoption of the North East Atlantic Emission Control Area, underwater noise and marine pollution from scrubbers.

MEPC 84’s extensive agenda will address several forms of shipping impacts on the marine environment, including greenhouse gas emissions via IMO’s Net Zero Framework (NZF) and Carbon Intensity Indicator (CII). There are however other important matters addressing international shipping’s impact on climate and air pollution:

Black Carbon and Polar Fuels Measure

A paper submitted to MEPC 84 by eNGOs, International efforts to reduce emissions of Black Carbon, calls on IMO states to consider the evidence it presents ahead of taking action to address the impact on the Arctic of emissions of black carbon from international shipping. The Arctic is warming four times faster than elsewhere on Earth; in March, Arctic winter sea ice tied for its lowest measured level. Black carbon is a short-lived climate pollutant, produced by the incomplete burning of fossil fuels, and accelerates melting if deposited onto snow and ice and has a disproportionate impact when released in and near to the Arctic (more information below).

This paper comments on the latest polar fuel concept discussions, and highlights ongoing research and a number of recent initiatives focused on reducing black carbon emissions from a variety of sources due to the impact on climate, on the environment and communities and on the Arctic.

“While decades of Arctic and global efforts to reduce black carbon emissions have made recent headway, the IMO’s lack of progress is a distinct outlier and may draw action from other internal fora to ensure that shipping’s black carbon emissions are also curbed”, said Dr Sian Prior, Lead Advisor to the Clean Arctic Alliance.

“February’s PPR 13 meeting considered a concrete proposal on polar fuels which would replace all residual fuel use in the Arctic with cleaner distillate fuels or new alternative fuels or forms of propulsion”, added Prior. “The IMO now must consider the appropriate geographic scope for such a polar fuel concept, in order to ensure effectiveness of the proposed measure – countries need to know where on shipping charts that the rules will apply.”

“It is essential that IMO members urgently work together on defining the geographic application of this new measure between now and November’s MEPC 85, so they can submit a new or amended proposal to an IMO meeting in early 2027 – PPR 14”, said Prior.

“This is an opportunity for governments, led by Arctic governments – to use multilateralism to rise above the current geopolitical and energy turmoil by taking action to curb shipping’s black carbon impact on the Arctic.”