AirClim: “Europe needs Emissions Control Areas”
Companies such as CMA CGM have shown a real commitment to the environment. The CMA CGM Andromeda (11,400 TEU) was the world’s first containership to be equipped with the Fast Oil Recover System. (Photo: © Copyright T. Dosogne)
Europe should follow the example of the US and Canada by establishing ECAs, says Christer Ågren of the Air Pollution & Climate (AirClim) Secretariat
Over the last 20 years, fuel and emission standards for land-based transport have been dramatically strengthened over most of the world. But international shipping has, for a long time, resisted similar legislation, with regard to both emissions of air pollutants and greenhouse gases.
Eventually, in October 2008, after some 20 years of talks but very little action, strict new limits for reducing sulphur emissions from ships were finally agreed by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO). But these important new standards are still many years away from practical implementation; the 0.5 percent global sulphur limit will apply as from 2020 (or possibly 2025), and the 0.1 percent sulphur limit for ships in designated Emission Control Areas (ECAs) will apply as from 2015.
Inadequate new measures to reduce emissions
The measures agreed so far in IMO for reducing emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOX) are totally inadequate; the Tier 2 standards that will apply to new ship engines as from 2011 will only reduce NOx emissions by about 16 to 22 percent, compared to the current Tier 1 standards. The slow turnover of the shipping fleet combined with the high growth in shipping activities means that the Tier 2 standards are not likely to result in any real reductions in total ship emissions even within the next 15 to 20 years. Every effort must therefore be made to markedly strengthen the weak global NOX emission standards, both for existing and new ships.
Last year’s IMO agreement also included a Tier 3 NOX emission standard, which will be introduced in 2016 and requires an 80 percent NOX reduction from the present Tier 1 level. But the Tier 3 standards apply solely in specific designated NOX Emission Control Areas, and are limited to new ships only.
Europe should follow US and Canada
In late March, the United States and Canada jointly submitted a proposal to the IMO to designate most of their coastal waters, an area extending 370 kilometres from the coastline, as an Emissions Control Area (ECA) for the control of sulphur oxides, nitrogen oxides, and particulate matter emissions.
All ships operating in the ECA will face stricter emission standards designed to reduce the threat they pose to human health and the environment. The ECA standards will cut sulphur in fuel by 98 percent, particulate matter (PM) emissions by 85 percent, and NOX emissions by 80 percent compared to the current global requirements.
Clearly, the EU and its member states should 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.
Financial benefits
To ensure an organized gradual phase-in of low-sulphur fuel, to encourage the use of the best techniques, and to speed up the introduction of cleaner fuels and ships, IMO regulations need to be complemented by economic instruments, such as emission charges.
These should be set so as to make it financially worthwhile, at least for ships that regularly frequent the areas where they apply, to use cleaner fuels or to invest in techniques needed to ensure a distinct reduction in emissions.
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