Editorial: Shipping must pay its bill

On 26 March, the United States and Canada hailed and praised the UN International Maritime Organisation’s (IMO) adoption of an emission control area (ECA) all along the North American coastline (see article on p. 15).

Less than two months later a group of European industry and shipowner organisations sent an open letter to the EU, claiming that the ECA sulphur standards are “unacceptable”, and urging the EU to act “to amend the IMO decision.”

Currently, ocean-going ships burn extremely dirty fuels that contain on average 3,000 times the sulphur content of road diesel fuel – even in ECAs ships are allowed to burn fuel with 1,500 times more sulphur.

Five years from now, in 2015, the new ECA standards will apply. But even then shipping fuel can still contain 100 times more sulphur than road fuels are allowed to today.
In their letter to the EU, the industry groups claim that “the environmental benefits are questionable and might even be negative.” But they fail to provide any evidence or references to substantiate this claim.

Damage to health and the environment by sulphur pollution is scientifically established and well-documented. That is why land-based emission sources in the EU have cut their sulphur outlets by 80 per cent since 1980. In the same time period, the shipping industry has evaded its fair share of responsibility, and instead markedly increased its emissions.

The industry groups complain about the expected increase in fuel costs. Clearly cleaner fuels are more expensive than dirty ones, but they also provide great health and environmental benefits.

The US EPA estimates that by 2030 the implementation of the ECA limits will prevent up to 32,000 premature deaths, 1.5 million work days lost, and more than 5 million cases of acute respiratory symptoms. Further, the annual monetised health benefits are estimated to amount to between US$110 and 280 billion, outweighing the costs (US$3.1 billion) by a factor of between 30:1 and 90:1, and making it an extremely cost-effective regulation.

The fact that the benefits are much higher than the costs becomes even more obvious if the very significant non-monetised environmental benefits are also considered, such as reduced acidification of ecosystems. Currently emissions from shipping in the Baltic Sea and North Sea ECAs are responsible for roughly a quarter of the total sulphur deposition on Sweden, Norway and Denmark.

Moreover, several studies have shown that the costs of cutting air pollutant emissions from ships are lower – sometimes much lower – than the cost of further reducing emissions from sources on land. So by cutting emissions from shipping, the EU could achieve its agreed and adopted health and environmental objectives at a lower overall cost to society as a whole.

The obvious way forward is for the EU and its member states to follow the example of the United States and Canada and designate all sea areas around Europe (the Baltic Sea, the North Sea, the North-East Atlantic, the Mediterranean and the Black Sea) as “full” Emission Control Areas, i.e. covering all the major air pollutants (sulphur, PM and NOx). (Currently only the Baltic Sea and the North Sea have ECA status, and this is limited to sulphur control.)

It is not acceptable for the shipping industry to keep on transferring the cost of its pollution to society at large. The IMO regulations must be fully implemented . To encourage the use of the best techniques, and to speed up the introduction of cleaner fuels and ships they should be complemented by economic instruments, such as emission charges.

Christer Ågren

In this issue

Too much NOx from trucks

A recent research project by the Dutch consultancy TNO has shown that real world NOx emissions from Euro V trucks in urban driving conditions are three times higher than previously expected and only marginally better than those ..

40 per cent carbon cuts with smaller scale tech

Greenhouse gas emissions can be cut by 40 per cent in ten years - with no nuclear power and without carbon capture, a new study from the Stockholm Environment Institute claims.

Go slower to go greener

The overcapacity in the cargo fleet creates an opportunity to reduce ship emissions by simply sailing slower.

EU Parliament votes for stronger pollution directive

On 4 May the European Parliament’s environment committee agreed to somewhat strengthen proposals to revise the EU directive on industrial pollution (IPPC). It called for stricter derogations from certain requirements than were agreed ..

A WWF prescription for greening Germany

German greenhouse gas emissions can be cut by 95 per cent by 2050 without excessive costs, a new WWF report claims.

North American ship pollution will be curbed

The emission control area off North American coasts will deliver public health benefits hundreds of miles inland.

British power plants pollute Dutch rural areas

Three big British power plants contribute more to the depostion of sulphur, nitrogen oxides and fine particles in rural Holland than 11 domestic plants combined.

NOx sources in the UK: the story behind the figures

Why the UK continues to live up to its “Dirty man of Europe” reputation, despite being among the richer countries in Europe.

The poor legacy of Copenhagen

Commitments made after Copenhagen are far from sufficient to keep global warming below 2°C. Without further measures 3°C is more likely, and 5°C a possible scenario.

Ozone, plants and climate - views and news

Climate strongly affects plant sensitivity to ozone, and ozone effects on vegetation can have important feedbacks on the climate.

Roadmap for 2050 offers low-carbon Europe for free

Cutting European greenhouse gas emissions by 80 per cent by mid-century is not only possible - it would cost less than doing nothing.

And the winner is...

For a third straight year the Polish power plant Belchatow tops the list of Europe’s dirtiest installations in 2009, European Commission data showed.

Particles killing half a million

Air pollution by fine particles is estimated to cause half a million premature deaths in European countries every year.