In this paper, the research status of emergency response to Arctic ship accidents including legal system and norms, construction of emergency search and rescue center, emergency equipment and technology, emergency response strategies, and multilateral cooperation were summarized. The study found that the main problems were the uneven distribution of emergency resources, the lack of cross regional cooperation among Arctic countries and organizations. On this basis, the future development of the Arctic ship accident emergency response system was prospected. This study is useful for identifying the problems and deficiencies in the current Arctic emergency response system, and has important guiding significance for improving the emergency response capability of Arctic ship accidents.