Fresh calls for a tougher regulatory ban on the use of heavy fuel oil (HFO) and a switch to distillates for ships working in the Arctic are being made in advance of a ministerial meeting of the Arctic Council next month.

Bryan Comer, the marine programme lead at the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT), said that if ships operating in the Arctic switched to distillates, their fleetwide black carbon emissions would be reduced by 44%.