EU Parliament Rejects Ship NOx Monitoring

On April 16, the members of the European Parliament (MEPs) voted to reject a proposal to monitor nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions from shipping. 

This is despite the fact that shipping emissions are set to overtake all land-based sources by 2020, according to environmental organization Transport & Environment. The organization says EU governments must not waste this unique opportunity to monitor two of the most harmful air pollutants, NOx and SOx, as part of the monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) of shipping emissions proposal.

Air pollution from international shipping, of which SOx and NOx emissions are a big part, accounts for about 50,000 premature deaths per year in Europe, says Transport & Environment. 

MEPs rejected the Environment Committee’s amendment to add NOx to the MRV requirement to report CO2. The Environment Committee had already excluded sulphur reporting despite the new SOx regulations that enter force in 2015. In addition, MEPs also rejected the chance to monitor ship efficiency, which is a key enabler to improve the sector’s environmental performance.

Aoife O’Leary, Transport & Environment policy officer for shipping, said: “Inexplicably Liberal MEPs rejected their own policy recommendations to include NOx and joined others in seriously undermining emissions monitoring. Given that NOx from shipping in Europe is set to exceed all land-based sources by 2020, it is a serious setback to the health and environment of Europeans.”

O’Leary added: “Shipping emissions monitoring is a clever and cost-effective way to report all air pollutants, including SOx and NOx, at once. But the Parliament’s decision is short sighted, and member states must now ensure that Europe includes these emissions if its monitoring proposal is to be worthwhile.”