The Clean Arctic Alliance yesterday welcomed adoption by the Nordic Council of a resolution on polar fuels (see notes below for definition of polar fuels) which calls on Nordic governments to create and implement a regulation by the UN shipping body, the International Maritime Organization (IMO), that would require the use of cleaner maritime fuels, resulting in lower emissions of black carbon by ships when operating in the Arctic.

During this week’s session in Stockholm, the Nordic Council adopted a Member proposal on polar fuels for a prosperous Arctic: “The Committee for a Sustainable Nordic Region proposes that the Nordic Council recommends that the Nordic governments work to ensure that the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) recognises polar fuels in the MARPOL Convention and to implement regulations that require increased use of polar fuels for ships sailing in the Arctic waters of the Nordic countries.”

The Nordic Council is an official body for inter-parliamentary co-operation comprising 87 MPs elected by Nordic parliaments, from the Aland Islands, Denmark, Faroe Islands,Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden.

“The resolution on polar fuels adopted by the Nordic Council this week should spur nordic governments to take the lead on action with IMO Member States to urgently protect the Arctic from the impacts of shipping emissions – in particular black carbon, which has a disproportionate impact on Arctic ice”, said Dr Sian Prior, Lead Advisor to the Clean Arctic Alliance. “The clock is ticking – IMO Member States, led by Nordic governments and other Arctic countries, must urgently develop and adopt a mandatory IMO regulation which would require that only polar fuels can be used by shipping in the Arctic”.

The deadline for submission of concrete proposals for such a regulation is December 5th, in order to be accepted to the thirteenth session of an IMO technical committee in February 2026, which addresses pollution prevention and response (PPR13).

“Black carbon is a climate superpollutant produced when fossil fuels are burned”, continued Prior. “It has a disproportionate impact because it both heats the atmosphere – and when released from ship exhausts near to the Arctic settles onto snow and ice, speeding up the melting and exposing darker land and sea beneath, which in turn absorbs more heat. This loss of the planet’s reflectivity – or albedo – 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 and new zero-emission fuels when operating in and near to the Arctic”, said Prior. “This is why action by the IMO this coming February is crucial, and why Arctic countries must be a driving force in ensuring this action takes place”.
Source: Clean Arctic Alliance