Page 63 - European Energy Innovation - winter 2018 publication

Winter 2018 European Energy Innovation 63

COMMUNICATION

Assessing the impacts of SECA
in the Baltic Sea Region

“AIR POLLUTION IS THE NEW TOBACCO” according to the World Health Organization (WHO) in
the first Global Conference on Air Pollution and Health (October 2018), calling the attention of
all countries to work towards meeting WHO global air quality guidelines. The call goes aligned
with the International Maritime Organization (IMO) plans to ban the use of high sulfur fuel in the
global shipping fleet by 2020 by forcing vessels to either use cleaner fuel with a lower sulfur
content or install an exhaust gas cleaning system onboard. Meanwhile, the Baltic Sea Region
(BSR) has already been benefiting of better air quality since the Sulphur Emission Control Areas
(SECA) entered into force in 2015. EnviSuM project results reveal the significant decrease of SOx
from ship emissions, the impact of the shipping emission on air quality & human health, levels of
compliance and the economics effects within SECA in the BSR.

Since 2015, all the ships navigating the North European Among all the benefits of SECA, perhaps the most
SECA (Baltic Sea, North Sea and English Channel) are valuable is the impact on human health, considering
obliged to comply with the limit of maximum sulfur exposure to ship emissions damages human health -
content of 0.1% in ships fuel. Before the regulation entered especially cardiovascular and respiratory system diseases.
into force, the shipping sector sparked criticism claims While assessing the exposure to particulate air pollution
against it, fearing huge economic losses due to increasing from shipping in the Baltic Sea, in countries bordering the
costs and a modal shift from ocean freight to road. Baltic Sea, results shows a decrease from 1544 to 1019 in
premature deaths.
Three years later, the results from EnviSuM shows the
economic impacts of SECA are so far negligible in the EnviSuM has also been tracking the sulfur fuel content
BSR. Benefits surpasses costs overall. Also, results shows of ships exhaust gases in the BSR in the scope of
no statistical evidence for modal shift from sea transport compliance. Results show the Middle Baltic Sea with the
to other modes and no evidence of transfer of supply highest level of non-compliance. Good compliance near
chains outside the SECA zone. In addition, SECA has the ports Gothenburg and Gdansk (99%) and less in Saint
created markets for emission abatement technologies and Petersburg (95%), where 2% were gross emitters.
motivated investments in cleaner fuels.
Altogether, emissions regulations have been a game
EnviSuM results show a significant decrease of SOx (-88%) changer to the shipping industry. The BSR has a long history
and particulate matter (PM, -36%) emissions in the BSR of cooperation to improve its environmental status, which
due to SECA. By 2030, BSR is expected to benefit even has stimulated clean tech knowhow and innovations.
more from better air quality since emissions will continue Significant SECA impacts were attributed to innovation
to decrease. Absolute nitrogen oxides (NOx) and PM and reputation of BSR, which benefits from the opportunity
impacts will also be reduced. to be on the forefront in clean shipping worldwide. l

The EnviSuM team is an international and multidisciplinary consortium of University of Turku (lead partner),
Finnish Meteorological Institute, Chalmers University of Technology, Maritime Development Center, Norwegian
Meteorological Institute, Maritime University of Szczecin, Tallinn University of Technology, City of Gothenburg,
University of Gothenburg, Baltic Marine Consult, HELCOM and 17 associated partners. EnviSuM is funded by the
European Regional Development Fund and co-financed by the Interreg Baltic Sea Region.

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