Analysis of Policy Measures to Reduce Ship Emissions in the Context of the Revision of the National Emissions Ceilings Directive
Year: 2007
Type: other
Abstract: Maritime activities constitute a significant fraction of anthropogenic emissions of air pollutants in Europe.In 2000, SO 2 and NO x emissions from international maritime shipping in Europe amounted to approximately 30 percent of the land-based emissions in the EU-25.While legislation is in force to control emission from international shipping, the expected increase in the volume of ship movements will compensate the positive environmental impacts of these measures and will lead to a further growth in ship emissions.Under business-as-usual assumptions, by 2020 emissions from maritime activities would come close to the projected baseline emission levels from land-based sources, and surpass the target levels established by the European Commission in its Thematic Strategy on Air Pollution for land-based sources.This anticipated increase in ship emissions will counteract the envisaged benefits of the costly efforts to control the remaining emissions from land-based sources in Europe.While at present emissions from ships are responsible for 10 to 20 percent of sulphur deposition in coastal areas, their contribution is expected for 2020 to increase to more than 30 percent in large areas in Europe, and up to 50 percent in coastal areas.Technologies exist to reduce emissions from shipping beyond what is currently legally required.The study has identified a set of emission control measures that are technically available and that could -if fully applied -reduce by 2020 80 percent of the SO 2 emissions from international shipping, and almost 90 percent of the NO x emissions.Total costs of these measures are estimated at 5.5 billion €/yr.For comparison, the costs of the measures proposed by the Thematic Strategy amount to 7.1 billion €/yr.The study has explored several packages of measures that could reduce emissions at lower costs.These include combinations of seawater sulphur scrubbing, lower sulphur content in residual oil, humid air engines for new built ships, slide valves retrofitting in existing ship engines, as well as the use of selective catalytic reduction (SCR).Marginal costs of these measures are well below the costs of the measures for land-based sources that have been proposed by the Thematic Strategy.To judge the cost-effectiveness of such measures against those for land-based sources, the analysis considered the impacts that emission reductions from shipping have on human health and natural environment.That analysis included the distance between the location of emissions from shipping and the receptor areas.The study examined potential contribution of four emission scenarios from shipping to achieving air quality targets from the EU Thematic Strategy on Air Pollution.Cost-optimal emission reductions and control costs by national emission sources were determined and compared with costs of reducing emissions from maritime shipping.Analysis clearly demonstrates that limiting air pollution from shipping reduces the necessity to further control emissions from land-based sources and provides important cost savings in achieving air quality targets in Europe.
Institution: International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis
Language: English
Subfield: Environmental Engineering
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
SDG: Climate action
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2184612102