Tag: black carbon

Following the letter of several shipping companies to Clean Arctic Alliance (CAA) about the VLSFO black carbon emissions matter, the association gave its respond by writing an open letter. Specifically, Clean Arctic Alliance seeks for greater engagement and cooperation between all the stakeholders.

Organizations and companies from the shipping, bunkering and refining industry wrote an open letter to Dr Sian Prior of the Clean Arctic Alliance (CAA), in response to the claims that shipping’s use of IMO 2020-compliant very flow sulphur fuel oils (VLSFOs) could increase black carbon emissions, coming from vessels.

The Clean Arctic Alliance has called the IMO to support an immediate switch to distillate fuels for ships in the Arctic and develop a global rule prohibiting fuels with high Black Carbon emissions, after a study revealing that some of the new VLSFOs will actually lead to a surge in the emissions of Black Carbon. 

A newly-launched study focuses on the importance of reducing shipping emissions and its benefits in favour of humans' health, nature and the environment by reducing vessels' speed. The report highlights that a 20% reduction in vessels' speed would decrease GHG emissions, as well as curb pollutants that pose great risks on human health, as black carbon and nitrogen oxides.

Black Bear Carbon, a green, recovered carbon black (rCB) manufacturer, announced that it will locate its next Tire-to-Carbon-Black-Upcycling-Plant at the Port of Rotterdam, in attempts to solve the waste tire problem on a global scale. 

The Clean Arctic Alliance urged the IMO Member States to reduce the impact of black carbon emissions from international shipping on the Arctic environment, as the UN body gathers in London for a meeting of its MEPC74. During the meeting, a number of issues, including black carbon emissions and heavy fuel oil in the Arctic will feature on the agenda.

According to Air&Waste Management Association, in the assumption that the shipping industry was a country, it would have been the sixth largest GHG emitter, producing more emissions than Germany. The Association supports that although IMO's decision on the implementation of the 2020 sulphur cap, they seem to ignore another pollutant, second to the carbon dioxide, the black carbon.

IMO's Sub-Committee on Pollution Prevention and Response (PPR) will conduct a meeting on 18 to 22 February to IMO's headquarters, London. IMO's agenda includes MARPOL Annex VI guidelines, safety measures on reducing the risks of use and carriage of heavy fuel oil, as well as measures aiming to decrease the impact on the Arctic of Black Carbon emissions from international shipping. 

In his address to the Finnish Climate Summit in Helsinki in mid-June, Finnish President Sauli Niinistö called on the Arctic Council to have 'a first ever Arctic Summit' in order to tackle black carbon emissions in the polar region, noting that there is no time to wait on climate change.

Winter ice conditions in addition to Arctic region’s ecosystem sensitivity to any human interference have always been harshening vessels’ navigation through Arctic shipping routes. However, as global warming started vanishing arctic ice, new shipping routes opened. Currently, the Arctic trading has opened new frontiers.