Following an appeal from Canadian government, indigenous participants, as well as testimony from WWF-Canada, IMO has agreed to take steps to minimize the use of heavy fuel oil (HFO) in Arctic shipping, during a week-long meeting in London.
WWF highlighted recent reports outlining major gaps in spill response capacity in the Arctic. All Arctic states, including United States, Russia, Finland, Norway, Iceland, Sweden, and Denmark/Greenland, as well as several non-Arctic states, supported the Canadian delegation’s submission on how to reduce the impacts of HFO in the Arctic.
Why phase out HFO in the Arctic?
- If spilled, HFO is almost impossible to clean up because of its thick, tar-like qualities;
- Recent research commissioned by WWF-Canada has shown that communities in Nunavut and the Beaufort region are woefully unprepared to respond to major spills along the Northwest Passage;
- Its air emissions have high levels of soot, black carbon and particulate matter, which absorb sunlight and speed up the melting of sea ice;
- The dirty and destructive properties of HFO have already lead to bans in both the Antarctic, and in Norwegian Arctic waters.
Andrew Dumbrille, senior specialist, sustainable shipping for WWF-Canada, noted that this was an IMO step in the right direction, to protect the fragile Arctic ecosystem, and the communities that depend on it, from the dirtiest and most polluting ship fuel in the world.
“We have an opportunity now to end the use of this toxic substance while levels of ship traffic are still relatively low. In order to give industry time to adapt, WWF encourages the IMO to continue moving this agenda forward, and phase out the use of HFO in Arctic shipping by 2020.”