Clean Arctic Alliance

02/12/2025

25/11/2025

The Arctic is warming four times faster than anywhere else on Earth - this is a warning sign for elsewhere on the planet. The shipping sector has been gifted an opportunity to cut black carbon emissions from shipping in the region, which would have a near-immediate positive impact. But time is tight, writes Dr. Sian Prior, Lead Advisor to the Clean Arctic Alliance, in this op-ed. https://www.highnorthnews.com/en/ticking-clock-arctic-states-have-less-fortnight-act-black-carbon-and-polar-fuels High North News

The Arctic is warming four times faster than anywhere else on Earth - this is a warning sign for elsewhere on the planet. The shipping sector has been gifted an opportunity to cut black carbon emissions from shipping in the region, which would have a near-immediate positive impact. But time is tight...

03/11/2025

The Clean Arctic Alliance welcomes adoption by the Nordic Council of a resolution on 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.

https://cleanarctic.org/2025/10/30/nordic-council-backs-polar-fuels-action-by-governments-to-cut-arctic-black-carbon-emissions-at-un-shipping-body/

20/10/2025

Andrew Dumbrille, Co-Director Equal Routes and Special Advisor to the Clean Arctic Alliance: “Delaying actions to reduce emissions from the marine shipping sector costs the climate — and coastal, Indigenous Peoples and Arctic communities are already paying the price for inaction. This week’s non-outcome at the IMO means that Canada and the marine sector should double down on related efforts to reduce the impacts from the triple planetary crisis. Implementing revised Carbon Intensity Indicator (CII) targets to improve efficiency of the global fleet; investing in wind to promote its scaling up; agreeing to comprehensive well-to-wake marine fuel guidelines which ensure all methane-based fuels aren’t part of decarbonization pathways; and adopting mandatory measures in early 2026 at the IMO’s PPR13 committee to reduce black carbon from shipping emissions can all be moved on now to support the sector’s zero-by-2050 ambitions. Canada’s leadership and actions are needed now more than ever to mitigate the climate impacts of shipping in Canada, including in the Arctic.”

Today, , , and the Clean Arctic Alliance are calling on the Government of Canada to show a strengthened resolve to reach an agreement on shipping emissions at the International Maritime Organization (IMO) as well as a clear commitment to stronger actions domestically.

While Canada continued to voice support for the Net-Zero Framework on global shipping, a small group of countries at the IMO attempted to derail discussions. We are hugely disappointed that the result of this was to postpone the vote on the framework by one year. The Net-Zero Framework, while flawed, would provide a path forward to reduce emissions from the shipping sector around the world.

“This framework will provide a roadmap and incentives to reduce emissions from the shipping sector,” says Brent Dancey, Director of Marine Climate Action at Oceans North. “Delaying its adoption creates uncertainty that will dampen innovation in the marine industry and is harmful to Indigenous and coastal communities that bear the direct impacts of climate change.”

In addition to adopting the Net-Zero Framework, some of the immediate steps Canada can take to improve its economic competitiveness and lower emissions from the shipping sector include:

🔌 Requiring the implementation of shore power at Canadian ports, and

🚢 Banning the use of scrubbers from the shipping sector to prioritize the reduction of black carbon and methane.

Get the full story at the release linked in our bio.

25/09/2025

Denmark has a unique opportunity to lead the cleaning up of Arctic shipping ahead of an International Maritime Organization meeting that will set future rules on fuels allowed by shipping in the Arctic, according to Danish NGO Green Global Future.

Led by Greenland, the Kingdom of Denmark currently holds the Chairship of the Arctic Council; Denmark also currently holds the Presidency of the Council of the European Union.

“With the Maritime Organization (IMO) having spent more than a decade on scientific analysis and discussions, but black carbon emissions from Arctic shipping remaining unregulated, the governments of Denmark and Greenland have a unique opportunity to demonstrate joint leadership on how cutting black carbon emissions from Arctic shipping can be achieved”, said Dr Kåre Press-Kristensen, Senior Advisor on Air Quality & Climate at Green Global Future. “By working closely in the coming months alongside Arctic nations and other supporting governments, Denmark and Greenland can change the course of climate warming in the Arctic at next February’s IMO meeting.”
https://cleanarctic.org/2025/09/25/denmark-and-greenland-must-lead-arctic-nations-on-imo-polar-fuels/

25/09/2025

Via High North News, Dr Sian Prior, lead Advisor to the Clean Arctic Alliance:

As the first round of this Autumn’s Arctic Council meetings kicks off, led by Greenland under the Kingdom of Denmark Chairship, the council must seize the opportunity to set out its priorities for the future health and biodiversity of the Arctic Ocean, the people that depend on it, and global climate systems that it helps regulate, writes Dr. Sian Prior in the Clean Arctic Alliance in this op-ed.

As it takes over chairship of the the intergovernmental forum - established to promote cooperation, coordination and interaction among the Arctic States, Indigenous Peoples and other inhabitants on common Arctic issues - the Kingdom of Denmark's priorities match those proposed by the Clean Arctic Alliance, a coalition of 24 non-profit organisations working to reduce the impact of shipping on the Arctic.

The Arctic is warming four times faster than elsewhere on the planet - with warming of up to 2.5 degrees Celsius already recorded, resulting in a record low winter sea ice this year.

Emissions from international shipping play a significant role in the Arctic’s warming, while new Arctic shipping routes are opening up.

Greenland and Denmark must make this moment count, by ensuring that Arctic governments must push for action within the International Maritime Organization (IMO) for cuts in emissions of greenhouse gases, and in particular short-lived climate super pollutants from shipping, including black carbon and methane.

As the first round of this Autumn’s Arctic Council meetings kicks off, led by Greenland under the Kingdom of Denmark Chairship, the council must seize the opportunity to set out its priorities for the future health and biodiversity of the Arctic Ocean, the people that depend on it, and global clim...

24/09/2025

Responding to reports that the Liberian-flagged Istanbul Bridge panamax container vessel has departed the port of Ningbo-Zhoushan to cross the Arctic’s Northern Sea Route as part of China’s Sea Legend (aka Haijie) shipping company’s “18-Day Arctic Express Containership Route To Europe”, followed by stops in the UK, Netherlands Germany and Poland, Dr Sian Prior, Lead Advisor to the Clean Arctic Alliance said:

“With the Arctic already under severe stress, warming faster than the global average and acidifying faster than the global average due to global climate change, sending container ships across the Arctic sets off alarm bells. The Clean Arctic Alliance is calling on Sea Legend to make public the choice of fuel being used to cross the Arctic's Northern Sea route, and whether the Istanbul Bridge is complying with the International Maritime Organization Resolution (MEPC.342(77)) calling on ships to voluntarily reduce black carbon emissions by using distillate or other cleaner alternative fuels or forms of propulsion when operating in or near to the Arctic, and whether it is aligned with the spirit of the IMO’s Arctic heavy fuel oil (HFO) prohibition which commenced in July 2024, but doesn’t take full effect till 2029."

Continue reading:
https://cleanarctic.org/2025/09/24/departure-of-container-ship-for-arctic-crossing-sets-off-alarm-bells/

18/09/2025

POLITICO Europe:

A Chinese company is preparing to sail a cargo ship along Russia's northern coast to Europe— a test run made possible by melting ice and accelerating climate change, and one that has implications for both international trade and the environment.

China is sending the Istanbul Bridge container ship on an 18-day trip from Ningbo-Zhoushan port — the world's largest — to Felixstowe in the U.K. on Sept. 20, accompanied by ice breakers. The goal is not a one-off voyage — that's been done before — but to establish a regular service via Russia’s Northern Sea Route linking multiple ports in Asia and Europe...
But the opportunity comes with heavy risk. The Arctic is warming three to four times faster than the rest of the planet. Less ice may make passage easier, but it also magnifies the damage when things go wrong.

Black carbon from bunker fuels is especially destructive when released near snow and ice. “It does five times the damage there than if it’s emitted farther away,” said Andrew Dumbrille, adviser to the Clean Arctic Alliance. Add the reality that spill response in the Arctic is slow and limited, and the stakes rise sharply. “Once oil is in the water, every hour without response means huge damage," he said.

And the vessel making this pioneering run hardly inspires confidence. The Istanbul Bridge — a 25-year-old, Liberian-flagged container ship — is not ice-strengthened, Dumbrille noted. “There will be an es**rt around it, but still, it’s not strengthened. It also will likely use heavy fuel oil on its journey, or bunker fuels.”

Even though heavy fuel oil was technically banned by the International Maritime Organization in July 2024, loopholes remain. Spills of the sludge-like fuel are nearly impossible to clean up, lingering in ecosystems for years. Then there’s noise pollution, invasive species and disruption to marine life.

Dumbrille said the next chance for tougher global rules will come in February 2026, when the IMO’s pollution prevention and response subcommittee meets — with experts and green groups already pushing for stricter fuel regulations in an increasingly busy Arctic.

“Climate change is rapidly and actively changing the geopolitical dynamics” in the region, an Arctic researcher says.