Brussels, 24/05/2012 (Agence Europe) - A further step has been taken towards reducing pollution from ships in all the European Union's waters. Member states' permanent representatives (COREPER) gave their backing on Wednesday 23 May to the compromise proposal agreed between the European Parliament (EP) and the Council of the EU on the legislative proposal seeking to reduce emissions of sulphur particles from ships (updating of Directive 93/12/EEC), while building into European law the marine fuels standards approved by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) in 2008.
The text, negotiated in informal trialogue meetings makes provision for: - limits for the sulphur content of marine fuels in designated SO2 (sulphur dioxide) Emission Control Areas (SECAs) (the Baltic Sea, the North Sea and the Channel) to be reduced from 1.5% to 1% until 31 December 2014 and to 0.1% from January 2015; - the sulphur limits of 0.5% in all seas outside SECAs to be made compulsory in all EU waters and to be applied also to all passenger vessels operation outside SECAs: a general cap does not allow the use of marine fuels with a sulphur content of more than 3.5% by mass within member states' territory, with the exception of vessels with alternative exhaust cleaning systems operating in closed mode; - member states to ensure the availability of the marine fuels required by these arrangements. State aid may be granted to avoid any adverse effect on the competitiveness of the sector resulting from the investment costs inherent in these new requirements.
In the view of MEP Satu Hassi (Greens, Finland), the EP rapporteur, this provisional agreement “is a great achievement in protecting public health in Europe as well as reducing the disproportionate impact that highly polluting shipping fuels have on the environment”. “Tens of thousands of lives will be saved by enforcing the stricter limit by the end of this decade”, she added.
European Environment Commissioner Janez Potocnik was pleased that agreement with the EP on the sulphur content of marine fuels is now possible. He noted that “without this directive, emissions from shipping would, by 2020, exceed emissions from all land-based sources”. (AN/transl.rt)