Tag: Arctic

Marlink published a report on the current status and future outlook for satellite capacity and connectivity based on vessel activity in the polar regions. The report finds that demand for high-quality data connectivity in the polar regions is set to increase.

The Clean Arctic Alliance has written to the ministers from Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands to propose a number of domestic and international actions which would help to rapidly kick-start the establishment of these green corridors in Arctic waters.

Climate scientists at Brown University worked with a legal scholar at the University of Maine School of Law to predict how Arctic Ocean ice melt could affect the regulation of shipping routes over the next few decades.

While a majority of IMO delegates spoke up in favour of moving the sector closer to the Paris Agreement’s goal of keeping global heating below 1.5°C during MEPC 78, NGOs expressed dismay over the IMO’s failure to make progress on the urgent short-term measures.

As the IMO MEPC 78 opens, the Clean Arctic Alliance called on the IMO to deliver urgent action to curb climate impacts on the Arctic, by delivering meaningful short-term measures that would kick-start dramatic reductions in global greenhouse gas and black carbon emissions from shipping this decade.

During a recent webinar by the Clean Arctic Alliance, the NGO discussed the implications of the priorities for IMO member states regarding the curbing of black carbon emissions and scrubber wastewater discharges on the Arctic, the climate and the world’s oceans.

During 2021, WWF’s Arctic Programme made review to identify gaps and challenges in implementing the Polar Code. It revealed that the code does not go far enough in preventing accidents or pollution that could have catastrophic consequences for marine life in Arctic waters.

As a meeting of the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) Pollution Prevention and Response sub-committee (PPR 9) opened on April 4th, NGOs have called for the IMO to develop a mandatory regulation requiring a switch to distillate or alternative cleaner fuels or methods of propulsion for vessels operating in or near Arctic water.

The threat to the Arctic from black carbon from shipping has been known for some time – and what happens in the Arctic doesn’t stay in the Arctic. When black carbon, is emitted from the exhausts of ships and settles onto snow and ice, it accelerates melting and the loss of reflectivity.

Amid diminishing ice and growing international interest in the Arctic, the Northern Sea Route has emerged as a new strategic opportunity for maritime transport.