Select committee: Environmental Audit Committee
Recommendation 45
Sixth Report - The UK and the Arctic Environment
Published 13 Oct 2023
Paragraph 283
Environmental Audit Committee All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
We welcome the International Maritime Organisation’s decision to ban the use and carriage of heavy fuel oil by ships in the Arctic from 2024. However, the exemptions and waivers mean that the ban will only take full effect in 2029, and we are concerned that the ban as it stands will prove ineffective. As shipping increases in the Arctic, the amount of heavy fuel oil used in the Arctic will only increase unless a full ban is in place. We urge the Government to press the IMO for an earlier full adoption of this ban in 2024, and to work with them to set limits for black carbon in the Arctic.
From: Environmental Audit Committee, Sixth Report - The UK and the Arctic Environment (HC 1141), paragraph 283, 13 October 2023
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 28 December 2023 (deadline 13 December 2023).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government's response agrees with some recommendations, partially agrees with others, and disagrees with the proposals for an Arctic Envoy, an additional research ship, a dedicated coordinating body and a national Arctic research plan.
- On ministerial coordination, the government agrees and says it is "looking to build on this by establishing a Ministerial group" of Ministers whose portfolios concern the Arctic, which "would meet periodically".
- It disagrees with appointing an Arctic Envoy, saying responsibility "best sits with" the Minister for the Polar Regions in the FCDO, and disagrees with a strategic national Arctic research plan because it "would not add significant value".
- On research ships, it disagrees with an additional vessel, stating that total research time available for Arctic work in any given year is "likely to be 45–50 days" for the RRS Sir David Attenborough, and points to other NOC ships and partnerships with other countries.
- On fisheries, it agrees and is "committed to joining CAOFA at the earliest possible opportunity". On deep-sea mining it partially agrees, supporting a moratorium on exploitation licences at the ISA.