Speaking about the problems that the Arctic faces at the moment, the President of the Republic of Finland, Sauli Niinistö and the Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed that there is indeed a need to move to cleaner ships’ fuels such as LNG in the Arctic.
As Sauli Niinistö informed, the two presidents discussed many aspects of environmental issues, outlining specific issues that need to improve, as well as measures to achieve this. These measures involve both countering black carbon and using LNG in sea transport instead.
Fighting black carbon, soot could be the first and easiest step … Transitioning to liquefied natural gas instead of fuel oil and other heavier kinds of fuel in Arctic navigation could be the second measure. These steps may seem really small. But it is either these small steps or nothing, most likely.
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In addition, Mr. Niinistö said that there is now ground for discussion regarding a major issue which is the correlation between the economic exploitation of the Arctic Region and environmental protection as well as how to find the right balance.
From his part, the Russian President, Vladimir Putin agreed with his colleague, as he said that:
It would be very useful to discuss opportunities for joint work to preserve the fauna, the wildlife, because many animals in the Arctic face a difficult situation. For example, polar bears are in danger because of the melting ice.
He also called scientists from all the countries of the Arctic region to collaborate and, along with state support, to organise various kinds of research, including climate change.
As for the commercial activity in the region, Mr. Putin mentioned that it is indeed an issue that needs to be resolved. However, he added that there are more issues that need to be discussed, such as the security of navigation in these latitudes, including in case of adverse environmental conditions.
In April 2018, a meeting of IMO’s Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC72) agreed to move forward on consideration of an Arctic ban on heavy fuel oil. The meeting directed a sub-committee (PPR6) – which will meet in early 2019 – to develop a ban on heavy fuel oil use and carriage for use by ships in the Arctic.