Use & transportation of heavy fuel oil finally banned in the Arctic via IMO agreement
Nearly 13 years after oil usage was mandatorily proscribed in Antarctica, Regulation 43A has become a law in the Artic. The regulations β an agreement by International Maritime Organization (IMO) β prohibit the transportation and usage of heavy fuel oil (HFO) to reduce shipping emissions like that of sulphur dioxide, black carbon, among other toxins, along the Northern Sea Route. Barring some exceptions, mazut or emissions produced by combustion of HFO in engines, and marine pollution have now been banned in the Arctic belt.
While Russia remains the only Arctic country to not join the agreement, Canada and Finland are slated to implement the ban from next year, effective July 1, 2025.
As the IMO ban came into force, the Clean Arctic Alliance (a group of 22 NPOs) called on the IMO member states, especially the Arctic coastal countries, to abide by it and enforce it completely, with immediate effect and without stooping to loopholes.
"The Alliance is also calling on the IMO to extend the area covered by the ban to include all Arctic waters north of 60oN, and to enact regulation to reduce black carbon emissions from shipping, which would help reverse the impacts of climate warming in the Arctic, through the use of cleaner fuels and diesel particulate filters," the Clean Arctic Alliance wrote.
