Brussels - Commenting ahead of Tuesday’s European Parliament plenary vote on international ocean governance, relating to the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, Dr Sian Prior, lead advisor to the Clean Arctic Alliance, said:
“The Clean Arctic Alliance welcomes the recognition within the ocean governance resolution of the urgent need to agree a ban on the use and carriage in fuel tanks of heavy fuel oil (HFO) by Arctic shipping, and we urge MEPs to vote in favour of its adoption. With warming occuring at unprecedented levels in the Arctic, and sea ice is receding at a dramatic rate, the region is set for an era of increased shipping. In 2017, the International Maritime Organization began moves towards a HFO phase out - an action that must both reduce Arctic shippings’ contributions to climate forcing, and reduce the threat associated with a fuel oil spill. HFO and Arctic ecosystems are incompatible: we must ban the use of HFO in the Arctic now!”
