OSLO — Norway has a unique opportunity to stamp its influence on the clean up of Arctic shipping, ahead of an upcoming International Maritime Organization meeting in February 2026 in London that will set rules on what fuels can be used in the immediate future by shipping in the Arctic, according to non-profit organisations Bellona and the Clean Arctic Alliance.
The momentum for this important decision is building: the Nordic Council of Ministers has just made a recommendation for the Nordic governments to work towards the recognition of polar fuels by the IMO and the MARPOL Convention.
“The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has spent more than a decade on scientific analysis and discussions, but black carbon emissions from Arctic shipping remain unregulated,” said Sigurd Enge, Senior Advisor, Shipping at Bellona, a member of the Clean Arctic Alliance. “Now Arctic nations, including Norway, need to act without further delay, to make cleaner fuels (polar fuels) mandatory for shipping in this unique region that is already being affected by climate change. Norway has a unique opportunity to demonstrate joint leadership on this issue, as it has many vessels operating in polar waters.”
“Black carbon is one of the longest, unresolved issues running at the IMO, and must now be dealt with without delay,” said Dr. Sian Prior, Lead Advisor, of the Clean Arctic Alliance. “The next opportunity comes in February 2026, when the IMO’s Sub-Committee on Pollution Prevention and Response will meet (PPR 13) to discuss polar fuels.”
“A strong agreement on polar fuels to set rules which will reduce black carbon emission levels from shipping in the Arctic region is essential,” added Prior. “The deadline for submitting proposals is December 5th – and we want to see a concrete proposal led by Arctic states on polar fuels that will ensure a rapid reduction in Arctic black carbon emissions, ahead of longer-term decarbonisation efforts.”
A regulation requiring the use of polar fuels in the Arctic must set the foundation in MARPOL Annex VI (International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships) for reductions in emissions which reduce the impact of black carbon on the Arctic.
“Norway has been a leader in the past on action to reduce atmospheric emissions from shipping leading to improvements in air quality both domestically in Norway’s fjords, and in the Norwegian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) through an emission control area for the Norwegian sea which takes effect in 2026,” said Enge. A PPR 13 submission, supported by Norway, would showcase Norwegian leadership, place Norway at the centre of mitigating climate impacts from black carbon emissions from shipping across the whole Arctic, and set the global shipping community on the right pathway.”
A recent report by NGO Pacific Environment lays out the case for why the International Maritime Organization (IMO) should immediately act on reducing black carbon pollution — a climate super-pollutant. On Thin Ice: Why Black Carbon Demands Urgent Action, explores how the expansion of Arctic shipping is causing an increase in the release of black carbon into the air, which then settles on snow and ice, accelerating dangerous melting.
From the report: “one major cause of the accelerated Arctic warming is black carbon, a super-pollutant characterized mainly by its high degree of warming potential as a powerful “short-lived climate forcer” — small particles with a relatively brief lifespan in the atmosphere compared to long- lived greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide (CO2). Cutting black carbon emissions will result in immediate climate benefits that slow warming in the Arctic and improve public health.”
Despite over a decade of scientific analysis and discussions at the International Maritime Organization (IMO), black carbon emissions from Arctic shipping remain unregulated, with only non-binding guidance in place. On thin ice: Why black carbon demands urgent action, presents a clear and urgent call for IMO member states to require vessels operating in and near the Arctic to switch to readily available and cleaner “polar fuels” — such as marine distillates DMA and DMZ or new fuels with comparable black carbon emissions levels — to rapidly cut emissions, protect vulnerable ecosystems and safeguard communities.
Black carbon is a short-lived climate pollutant, produced by the incomplete burning of fossil fuels, with an impact more than sixteen hundred times that of carbon dioxide 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 processes are 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.
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