Polarcus is proud to responsibly lead the marine seismic industry towards a more sustainable future and the company’s motivation goes beyond being legally compliant. The Polarcus Explore Green™ agenda was introduced when the company was formed in 2008 and, since then, a substantial and proactive investment in time and money has been made to ensure Polarcus continues to
outperform legislative requirements. This has become increasingly important as the industry observes more government and non-government organizations placing additional emphasis on environmental matters and enforcing more rigorous regulations on emissions.

Polarcus remains committed, and driven, to going beyond any regulatory and legislative requirements in order to carry out marine seismic operations in the most sustainable manner.

The IMO 2020 sulfur cap came into effect from 1 January 2020 and has been the most substantial regulatory change to the industry in recent times. This requirement reduced the level of sulfur content permitted in fuel oil used onboard ships operating outside designated emissions-controlled areas from 3.5% mass by mass (m/m) to 0.5% m/m. The IMO objective is to reduce the amount of SOx emanating from maritime activities globally which will provide major health and environmental benefits, particularly for populations living close to ports and coastlines.

Polarcus has been compliant with the new IMO 2020 regulation for more than a decade. This means anyone working with Polarcus over the last 10 years has taken part in industry-leading low emissions marine seismic acquisition.