Study focuses on linking with emission control areas in Baltic, North Sea and English Channel
A study released today in Portugal estimates that the adoption of a pollution emission control area in the North Atlantic would lead to a significant cut in emissions in 2030, of between 46% and 85% in the Portuguese maritime zone.
The work, published by Portuguese NGO ZERO – Sustainable Earth System Association, comes from the International Council on Clean Transportation, which was appointed to carry out technical and feasibility studies for the creation of an emissions control area in the North Atlantic.
Under the coordination of Portugal, through the Directorate-General for Marine Resources (DGRM), maritime administrations from Atlantic coastal States began preliminary discussions at the end of 2022 on the potential feasibility of designating an emissions control area in their waters.
According to the DGRM, a pollution emission control area in the Atlantic, linking the emission control areas in the Baltic Sea, North Sea and English Channel with the one in the Mediterranean Sea, would “constitute a fundamental step in the fight against air pollution from international maritime transport“.
The possible pollution emission control area in the North Atlantic would include the territorial waters and exclusive economic zones of the Faroe Islands, France, Greenland, Iceland, Ireland, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom, with potential expansion to include the Azores and Madeira archipelagos in Portugal and the Canary Islands in Spain, according to ZERO, which has been attending meetings of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) as part of the Clean Shipping Coalition delegation.
The study by the International Council on Clean Shipping, the results of which will be incorporated into a proposal to be presented to the IMO, concludes that the designation of an emissions control area in the North Atlantic “could lead to significant reductions in polluting emissions” in 2030, in the order of 36% for black carbon, 64% for fine particles and 82% for sulphur oxides.
In the case of Portugal’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), the reduction would be greater, 46% for black carbon, 68% for fine particles and 85% for sulphur oxides.
The percentages are estimated if ships use exclusively distillate-based fuel, “so-called marine diesel that does not contain heavy fuel”, ZERO points out in a statement, adding that “the choice of fuels and technologies to comply with emission control area regulations can result in different emission reductions”.
There are currently five emission control areas designated by the IMO.
If created, the North Atlantic emissions control area would “impose stricter regulations aimed at reducing emissions into the atmosphere of sulphur oxides, fine particles and nitrogen oxides”, pollutants that “pose substantial health risks”, namely causing respiratory and cardiovascular diseases and increased mortality, notes ZERO.
According to ZERO, adapting older ships sailing in this region “to the most demanding standards could result in a 71% reduction in nitrogen oxide emissions”.
Another study by the International Council on Clean Transportation – but from 2019, and also cited by the environmental association – estimated that the transport sector contributed to 385,000 deaths worldwide in 2015, with approximately 15% of the deaths attributed to maritime transport.
LUSA
