The Association of Arctic Expedition Cruise Operators – AECO’s efforts to tackle marine plastic litter in the Arctic have been recognized globally; AECO’s Clean Seas project was selected as the winner of the 2020 National Energy Globe Award for Norway.
For nearly two decades, members of AECO have been organizing beach cleanups involving cruise passengers travelling to Svalbard. In 2018, AECO decided to enhance the efforts and launched the “Clean Seas project”. In addition to conducting more cleanups, involving more passengers, the project involves working with expedition cruise operators to cut back on single-use plastics and other items and to educate visitors to the Arctic about ocean plastic challenges. Sharing best practices is part of the project, as is collaboration with scientist to understand more about the sources of ocean garbage, how the garbage travel at sea, and the risk it causes to the environment. Using this experience, AECO is now starting to implement these efforts in other areas of the Arctic.
Today – October 1, 2020 – the Energy Globe Award was presented to AECO’s Executive Director, Frigg Jørgensen, at a reception at the Austrian Embassy in Oslo. The award was presented by Handelsattaché Wolfgang Sabella from Advantage Austria, Ambassadør Wilhelm M. Donko and Konsul Klaus Ranner.
The Energy Globe Award is a renowned environmental prize worldwide. In total, applicants from more than 180 nations participated with projects focused on environmental protection.
AECO would like to thank the Energy Globe for acknowledging AECO’s Clean Seas project.
