AFN Resolution 26-24 To Reduce Black Carbon and Scrubber Emissions Supports 2023 Kawerak Board Resolution
Delegates to the 2026 Alaska Federation of Natives Convention have the opportunity to pass AFN Resolution 26-24, calling for an end to heavy fuel oil (HFO) and scrubber discharge in Alaska waters. This AFN resolution is a similar call to action as the Kawerak 2023 resolution “Reducing Shipping Black Carbon and Scrubber Emissions in the Arctic”, passed unanimously by the Board of Directors. The 2023 Kawerak resolution urges the U.S. Delegation and others at the International Maritime Organization to work with Tribes, Tribal consortia and other Indigenous and environmental groups to establish processes and mechanisms to reduce the use of fuels and technologies that emit black carbon emissions and to do all it can to reduce scrubber wastewater emissions in the Arctic. AFN Resolution 26-24 supports those goals by calling for an end to heavy fuel oil (HFO) and scrubber discharge in Alaska waters.
When burned, HFO releases black carbon, a toxic soot. Not only is this soot harmful to human health and wildlife, but when it lands on ice and snow, it darkens them, speeding up melting. Scrubber systems installed on ships “scrub” pollutants emitted from burning HFO out of smoke stacks and divert those pollutants into the water, thus spraying toxic waste into the ocean. Scrubber systems are a loophole to meet air pollution requirements. Many cruise ships use scrubbers, a growing concern with increased cruise ship traffic in Alaska waters.
See full text Kawerak 2023 Resolution
See AFN Resolution on page 63 of the AFN Resolution packet
