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Cruise ship Polar Star

Clean Arctic Alliance Reaction to Norway’s Proposal for Arctic Ban on Polluting Heavy Fuel Oil in Svalbard

Clean Arctic Alliance calls on IMO member states to agree on stronger ban of HFO in Arctic ahead of November meeting London, 9 November 2020:- Reacting to the November 6th announcement by the Norwegian government of its proposal to completely ban the use of heavy fuel oil (HFO) by shipping around the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, Clean Arctic Alliance Lead Advisor Dr Sian Prior said: “We welcome this important commitment by Norway to protect the waters around Svalbard from the risks of heavy fuel oil (HFO) spills, and its glaciers and sea ice from the impacts of black carbon emissions caused by the burning of HFO. Norway leads the way… Read More »Clean Arctic Alliance Reaction to Norway’s Proposal for Arctic Ban on Polluting Heavy Fuel Oil in Svalbard

Pancake ice on Arctic Sea Ice: Dave Walsh Photography

Arctic Sea Ice Crisis: World Leaders Must Cut Emissions to Curb Arctic Heating

As we all know, what happens in the Arctic doesn’t stay in the Arctic – and the changes rapidly impacting the Arctic will have repercussions for all of us. The Clean Arctic Alliance is calling on world leaders to take urgent action to curb Arctic heating, by accelerating national and regional policies and practices that will fulfill the goals of the Paris Agreement, especially that of limiting the increase in temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius – requiring an at least 60% reduction in climate emissions by 2030, something to which the European Parliament has already agreed upon”, said John Maggs, Senior Policy Advisor at Seas at Risk – a Clean Arctic Alliance member, and president of the Clean Shipping Coalition.

HFO Free Arctic

Arctic Heavy Fuel Oil Ban Inches Forward, but loopholes denounced as “outrageous”

NGOs and Indigenous groups today cautiously acknowledged progress by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and its Member States in agreeing on a draft regulation on heavy fuel oil (HFO) use and carriage in the Arctic, but denounced the inclusion of loopholes in the text that mean the ban will not come into effect until 2029, leaving the Arctic exposed to the growing threat of HFO spills for close to another decade.

Photo credit: Jonathan Eastland/Ajax News & Feature Service / Alamy Stock Photo

Oil companies must explain how their new “Super Pollutant” shipping fuels ever came to market

“If immediate action isn’t taken by the International Maritime Organization, the shipping industry’s use of very low sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO) – introduced to comply with the 2020 sulphur cap – will lead to a massive increase in Black Carbon emissions, and this will both accelerate the melting of Arctic sea ice and have a major impact on Earth’s climate,” said Dr Sian Prior, Lead Advisor to the Clean Arctic Alliance, a coalition of non-governmental organisations working for a ban on heavy fuel oil from Arctic shipping.