IMO reaches historic deal on ship air pollution

2515, 03/04/08

The sulphur content of all marine fuels will be capped at 0.5 per cent worldwide from 2020, the International maritime organisation's(IMO) marine environment protection committee (MEPC) decided at a meeting in London on Thursday. The deal is much more stringent than expected. It will be confirmed by the MEPC's plenary body on Friday and should be rubber-stamped by IMO governments in October.

"It's almost unbelievable compared to where we were five years ago," a European commission official said of the outcome. Less than two months ago an agreement remained elusive (EED 11/02/08 http://www.endseuropedaily.com/24812).

"It's a very carefully crafted compromise which takes into account a vast array of conflicting issues," Peter Hinchliffe of the International chamber of shipping (ICS) told ENDS. "The fact that it was achieved is quite remarkable." Friends of the Earth estimates that the new limit will cut premature deaths from ship air pollution by about 50,000 per year (EED 06/02/08 http://www.endseuropedaily.com/24782).

The maximum permissible fuel sulphur content today is 4.5 per cent. The IMO estimates that actual fuel sulphur content averaged 2.42 per cent in 2007. The limit will fall in stages to 3.5 per cent in 2012 and finally to 0.5 per cent in 2020. Special low sulphur zones, called Secas (EED 15/08/07 http://www.endseuropedaily.com/23736), where the sulphur limit is 1.5 per cent, will face a stricter limit of one per cent in 2012 and 0.1 per cent in 2015.

"I think the short-term goals are very much achievable, for the medium and long-term ones we will have to see how we get on," said Mr Hinchliffe. He said it was "absolutely vital" that the agreement left open the means for compliance.

Switching from heavy fuel oil to distillates is the simplest compliance option, ICS says. International tanker group Intertanko had lobbied for a mandatory switch to such fuels (EED 21/11/06 http://www.endseuropedaily.com/22093). The alternative is to install scrubbers.

Low-sulphur fuels are currently not widely available and the IMO agreement calls for a 2018 review to check their availability; depending on its findings, the 2020 target could be postponed to 2025. Mr Hinchliffe hopes new Secas will be set up in coming years to drive demand for distillates.

If a ship can demonstrate compliant fuel is not available to it, it may be granted an exemption from the new limits.

The oil industry is sceptical. "We have great doubts on the availability of the required product [by 2020]," Isabelle Muller, secretary general of European association Europia, told ENDS.  "We don't see it's environmentally justified," she added of the long-term global target. "There are a lot more benefits from using clean fuel selectively close to land."  An environmental technology group warned on Thursday the switch would send oil prices soaring above the US$150 per barrel mark.

Also this week, the IMO reached preliminary agreement on nitrogen oxide (NOx) emission standards for new ship engines (EED 11/02/08 http://www.endseuropedaily.com/24812) and decided existing engines should be fitted with an emission-reducing "kit". No major are decisions on curbing CO2 emissions are expected.

Follow-up: IMO http://www.imo.org/, tel: +44 20 7735 7611, plus press release

http://www.imo.org/Newsroom/mainframe.asp?topic_id=1709&doc_id=9093

and sulphur 2007 report http://www.endseuropedaily.com/docs/80403a.pdf.

See article on rising oil prices http://www.prnewswire.co.uk/cgi/news/release?id=223146.

See also CO2 working group report http://www.endseuropedaily.com/docs/80403c.pdf and terms of reference

http://www.endseuropedaily.com/docs/80403e.tif,

secretary general's call to speed up CO2 work http://www.endseuropedaily.com/docs/80403d.pdf and Danish CO2 levy proposal http://www.endseuropedaily.com/docs/80403b.pdf.

ENDS Europe Daily is Europe's leading environmental news service. A free trial is available by clicking on the following link:http://www.endseuropedaily.com/web/helcom.