EMEA News
UK: Govt Should Make North Atlantic ECA a Policy Goal
UK maritime policy should include turning the whole of the Atlantic Ocean into an Emissions Control Area, a pro-environment body has said.
The move would deliver significant benefits in lower emissions from international shipping, according to Opportunity Green.
It cites a recent comparative study by the environmental shipping body ICCT that has tracked the environmental benefits of an ECA in the North Atlantic. It would cut sulphur emissions from shipping by 82%, particulate matter (PM2.5) by 64% and black carbon by 36%, according to the study.
An ECA currently exists in UK waters to the east and south in the English Channel and the North Sea. Opportunity Green along with other non-governmental organisations called on the UK government earlier this year to extend the ECA to all UK waters and for it to collaborate with neighbouring coastal states to establish an ECA beyond UK waters.
"If expanded in this way, it would enable to UK to link up into the proposed North Atlantic ECA," the organisation said in a press statement on July 16.
The renewed call for the creation of a much bigger ECA coincides with a change of government in the UK. The incoming administration has made delivering green energy a key policy goal in its first term of office. ECAs are in place in various seas around the world. They have been shown to be an effective way of reducing pollution from shipping.
