The Mediterranean Sea will become a Sulfur Emission Control Area in 2025
- The Barcelona Convention held this week in Antalya (Turkey) gives the green light to the creation of an Emission Control Area for sulfur emissions in the Mediterranean.
- Ecologistas en Acción celebrates this great victory for health and the environment that will mean the significant reduction in sulfur oxide emissions, but points out that a great opportunity is lost by leaving aside the control of nitrogen oxide emissions.
At the meeting of the contracting parties to the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment and the Mediterranean Coastal Region (Barcelona Convention), held in Antalya this week, Mediterranean States have agreed to designate an Emission Control Area for sulfur emissions (SECA, for its acronym in English).
The coastal countries have thus agreed on the final step to request a DFS covering the entire Mediterranean Sea at the next meeting of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), which will take place in early 2022. Following the decision-making processes at the IMO , the SECA regulation will come into force in January 2025.
At the moment the application to the IMO will not include harmful nitrogen emissions from ships. However, an agreement has been reached to continue working over the next two years on its viability to also present a Nitrogen Emissions Control Area (NECA) in the region which, as environmental organizations consider, will significantly improve effective air quality.
The European coalition of environmental organizations that since 2015 has been trying to promote the establishment of an Emissions Control Area in the Mediterranean – among which is Ecologistas en Acción – has welcomed the decision of the Mediterranean States. However, it has also regretted that it has not been more ambitious in terms of contaminants and entry into force times.
María García, spokesperson for Ecologistas en Acción, declared: “It is a great step to achieve cleaner air in the region. However, the feeling is bittersweet, because regulation to reduce harmful nitrogen oxide emissions from ships has not been included. Scientific evidence demonstrates that only a combined area of sulfur and nitrogen emissions control will maximize health, ecosystem and climate benefits across the Mediterranean.
According to these organizations, the opportunity has been lost to accelerate the implementation of regulation as already exists in northern Europe. There are no reasons – they allude – to postpone these measures, when in the North Sea and the Baltic Sea the SECA has been in force since 2015 and the NECA for a year.
The organizations also call for a ban on all types of gas purifiers (known as scrubbers) that the IMO gives as an alternative option for shipping companies to continue using heavy fuel oil, with high sulfur content (HFSO).
María García has concluded: “There are 4,000 vessels that use scrubbers, the 80% open cycle. This means that air pollutants are directly discharged into the sea, with the consequent contamination of ecosystems and danger to human health. Several countries and ports have already restricted the use of scrubbers and an internal study by the IMO itself recognizes the problem. We ask that false technological solutions be abandoned and the use of heavy fuel oil be prohibited.
Maritime pollution in figures
Globally, there are an estimated 60,000 premature deaths each year associated with air pollution from ships. In the EU, pollution from ships causes around €60 billion in annual health costs. Emissions of sulfur oxide (SOx), nitrogen oxide (NOx) and ultrafine particles (PM2.5) from shipping are a significant threat to human health, the environment and the climate.
In the Mediterranean region, ship emissions contribute substantially to environmental emissions levels affecting 250 million residents. The World Health Organization (WHO) warns that average annual levels in the region often exceed its air quality limits by more than five times.
Furthermore, around 70 % of cities in the Mediterranean littoral states are well above the WHO recommendation for PM2.5 pollution levels. The high ambient concentrations of PM2.5 due to ship emissions correspond perfectly to the main maritime routes and mainly affect coastal areas. Many of the most densely populated cities in the Mediterranean region are located there, hence the great importance of the implementation of these maritime emissions control zones.
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