NGO Welcomes MedEca but says More can be Done

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Monday December 19, 2022

While recognising the newly enshrined MedEca (Mediterranean emissions control area) as a positive step, environmentalist NABU rues the missed opportunity to improve public health.

MedEca is a "huge step forward towards cleaner shipping", said the ngo's transport officer Sonke Diesener but adding that "policy makers missed the chance to enforce a full ECA".

A full ECA would extend regulation to cover nitrogen oxides as well as sulfur emissions (NOx and SOx) from shipping.

NABU's view is that only a "combined ECA covering NOx and SOx as established in North America and in northern Europe would improve air quality further while also boosting the necessary shift towards climate-friendly, e-fuels based on renewable energy".