PPR 13: This Week, IMO Member States Must Agree on Cleaning Up Shipping’s Arctic Black Carbon Emissions in International Shipping News 10/02/2026 As a meeting of the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) Pollution Prevention and Response committee opened yesterday (PPR 13, February 9-13), the Clean Arctic Alliance is calling for Arctic States to lead other IMO members in supporting a proposal to reduce black carbon emissions from international shipping in the Arctic. A key paper submitted to the meeting (PPR 13-6), by Denmark, which represents Greenland at the International Maritime Organization, along with France, Germany and the Solomon Islands, proposes a new mandatory Arctic fuel measure for MARPOL Annex VI, requiring that ship s sailing in the Arctic use cleaner fuels with lowemissions of black carbon “This week, IMO member states – especially Arctic countries – must show leadership on the Arctic fuel proposal, which sets out the characteristics of fuels that would be considered suitable for use in the Arctic – so-called polar fuels”, said Dr Sian Prior, Lead Advisor to the Clean Arctic Alliance. “After 15 years of consideration of cleaner fuels by the IMO, north Atlantic coastal nations must now take the lead, by supporting one another in the efforts to clean-up air polluting emissions from international shipping, and bringing other IMO member states on board.” “This past December saw the lowest Arctic sea ice extent in the 47-year satellite record – melting of the Arctic sea ice results in loss of ice habitat, important for wildlife and Indigenous communities in the Arctic, while the melting of land-ice – glaciers – contributes to rising global sea-levels”, added Prior. “ Emissions of black carbon from shipping have a disproportionate impact in the Arctic, by contributing to the melt of sea and land-ice leading to global consequences. Black carbon emissions also increase the risk of respiratory and cardio-vascular illnesses in local communities”. The Clean Arctic Alliance is calling on IMO Member States to support the PPR 13-6 proposal in a working group at PPR 13, and subsequently forward it to the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC 84 , April 27- May 1) for approval. “The characteristics proposed to describe suitable fuels for use in the Arctic include fuel density, viscosity and carbon residue maxima to help limit sooting”, said Bill Hemmings, Black Carbon Advisor to the Clean Arctic Alliance. “Polar fuels will prevent the use of residual fuels or blends including heavy fuel oil (HFO) used by many ships worldwide today, often in conjunction with exhaust gas cleaning systems (scrubbers). As this would lead to the exclusive use of existing, widely available distillate fuels and new fuels, resulting in lower emissions of black carbon, it really is low-hanging fruit for the IMO.” Scrubbers At PPR13, the Clean Arctic Alliance is calling on IMO member states to agree to develop a regulation in MARPOL Annex VI to facilitate restricting scrubbers (EGCS, or exhaust gas cleaning systems) in PSSA (Particularly Sensitive Sea Areas) by supporting the proposal in PPR 13/7/2 and to consider extending the scope to ECAs (Emission Control Areas) as proposed in PPR 13/7/3. “During this week’s meeting, IMO member states must agree that scrubber discharge water seriously affects aquatic ecosystems and therefore agree that coastal states have the right to restrict or ban the discharge”, said Eelco Leemans, Technical Advisor to the