SHIP EMISSIONS UNDER REVIEW


The marine shipping industry is coming under increased pressure to clean up its act. International negotiations are underway to tighten rules for harmful emissions of sulphur oxide, particulate matter and nitrogen oxide from shipping. Meanwhile, a new study has revealed that greenhouse gas emissions from ships are almost three times higher than previously believed.

Sub-committee drafts stricter rules for ship pollution
.
The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) Sub-Committee on Bulk Liquids and Gases (BLG) met from 4-8 February to revise its marine pollution regulations to reduce the emissions of sulphur oxide, nitrogen oxides and particulate matter from ships.

As the meeting opened, a number of environmental groups called for major changes to address unnecessary, premature deaths resulting from the current use of dirty fuels for marine shipping. "The IMO cannot continue to ignore mounting evidence that action to reduce air pollution from ships could avoid tens of thousands of premature deaths each year," said David Marshall, senior counsel at the Boston-based Clean Air Task Force. Joao Viera, policy officer with the Brussels-based European Federation for Transport and the Environment added that "It is a disgrace that thousands are dying needlessly as a result of the IMO's intransigence on air pollution." The groups cited research by scientists at the University of Delaware in the US, released in November last year showing that approximately 60,000 lung- and heart-related deaths in 2002 were linked to the pollution and chemicals emitted by large shipping freighters (see Bridges Trade BioRes, http://www.ictsd.org/biores/07-11-16/inbrief.htm).

Following lengthy negotiations, participants at the IMO Sub-Committee on Bulk Liquids and Gases narrowed down six existing options for improving fuel standards to address sulphur oxide and particulate matter to three. The final decision will be taken at a meeting of the IMO Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) in October. Some participants worried that refiners might have problems providing higher-grade bunker fuels at large quantities within a tight timeframe as a result of new rules.

In terms of nitrous oxide emissions, the sub-committee discussed options for requiring stricter technical standards for engines, both new and those already in use.

The next session of the MEPC, scheduled from 31 March to 4 April, will continue discussing the draft amendments.

Leaked study shows high carbon emissions

Meanwhile, a leaked IMO study looking at carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, found that emissions from ships are three times higher than previously calculated. In fact, annual emissions from the world's merchant fleet have already reached 1.12 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide, or nearly 4.5 percent of all global emissions. In addition, emissions are set to rise by a further 30 percent by 2020, and shipping will become one of the main sources of greenhouse gas emissions, following transport, housing, agriculture and industry. The study was produced by Intertanko, the global association of tanker owners, and the data collection methodology was more sophisticated than that used for previous studies.

Reacting to the information in the leaked report, Dr Rajendra Pachauri, chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said: "This is a clear failure of the system. The shipping industry has so far escaped publicity. It has been left out of the climate change discussion. I hope [shipping emissions] will be included in the next UN agreement. It would be a cop-out if it was not. It tells me that we have been ineffective at tackling climate change so far."

The report also said that emissions of sulphur oxide and particulate matter are rising fast.

Peter Smith, managing director of Intertanko, claimed his industry was taking steps to cut emissions. "World trade and ship numbers have seen a steady increase, but in parallel there have been economies of scale with larger, more efficient ships. Individual ships have steadily been reducing their fuel consumption for the last 20 years. One litre of fuel on a modern very large crude carrier moves one tonne of cargo more than 2,800km; this is more than twice as far as 20 years ago," said Smith.

Background

The worldwide fleet of 90,000 ships transports 90 percent of the world's goods. Shipping has grown by three percent annually on average over the last three decades, and shipping emissions are projected to grow by more than 70 percent by 2020, as global trade expands.

In the last couple of decades, the international community has taken steps to reduce emissions from other sectors, but the shipping industry has been left behind. Efficiency and environmental standards on shipping fuel have been largely ignored due to the distance between the ships and the externalities they create. The freighters travel the open seas, leagues away from the coastal inhabitants who fall ill.

Maritime transport is coming under increased pressure, however, to improve practices and decrease pollution levels. In October last year, a number of environmental groups and Attorney Generals in the US petitioned the US Environmental Protection Agency to start regulating greenhouse gas emissions from ships travelling in US waters (see Bridges Trade BioRes, 5 October 2007, http://www.ictsd.org/biores/07-10-05/story2.htm). Representative of the shipping industry have said they prefer a global approach to dealing with shipping emissions.

ICTSD reporting; "Acting on Ship Emissions Can Save Lives - NGOs," REUTERS, 5 February 2008; "Ships' Carbon Output Twice Previous Estimate - Study," REUTERS, 14 February 2008; "True scale of C0emissions from shipping revealed," GUARDIAN, 13 February 2008.