The Impacts of Arctic Shipping Operations on Black Carbon Emissions

As ship navigation in the Arctic becomes more accessible due to ice melt, direct emissions of atmospheric pollution will increase. It is expected that trans-Arctic travel, which will replace longer routes such as the Asia to Europe route via the Suez Canal, total emissions of CO 2 will decrease due to less fuel consumption across the shorter routes. However direct emissions of Black Carbon (BC) in the Arctic will increase and exert a climate forcing locally.

Source: European Climate Foundation