A ban on the dirtiest and most climate-damaging fuel for ships has come into effect in Arctic waters.
Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO) is a tar-like, thick but relatively cheap oil that is widely used in shipping around the world, especially tankers.
However, HFO is particularly damaging in the Arctic, where the black carbon it emits when burned speeds up the melting of snow and ice.
Campaigners say the ban, while welcome, will make little immediate impact as a series of loopholes will allow the vast majority of ships to use the fuel until 2029.
Produced from the waste left over in oil refining, HFO poses a huge threat to the oceans in general but to the Arctic in particular.
This sludge-like fuel is almost impossible to clean up if a spill occurs.
In colder waters, experts say, the fuel does not break down but sinks in lumps that linger in sediments, threatening fragile ecosystems.
In climate terms, this oil is seen as particularly dangerous, not just producing large amounts of planet-warming gas when burned, but also spewing out sooty particles called black carbon.
“The black carbon is creating the sort of double whammy impact in the Arctic,” said Dr Sian Prior, from the Clean Arctic Alliance group of campaigners.
“It’s attracting heat while it’s in the atmosphere, and then it settles onto the snow and ice and is speeding up the melting as well.”
The oil was banned from use or transport in the Antarctic in 2011.
Environmentalists have been pushing to expand that restriction to northern waters for years, finally persuading the countries that participate in the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) to enact a ban back in 2021.
The restriction now comes into force in Arctic waters – and while campaigners agree this is progress, they believe
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