Costs and benefits of low-sulphur fuel standard for Baltic Sea shipping

Health impact assessments of shipping and port-sourced air pollution on a global scale: A scoping literature review

BACKGROUND

Globalisation has led to international trade expand rapidly. Seaborne transport moves 80% of traded goods across the globe, producing around 3% of greenhouse gases and other hazardous pollutants, such as PM, NO_x and SO_x, known to be harmful to health.

METHODS

A scoping literature review was conducted reviewing peer-reviewed studies on health impact assessments (HIA) of global shipping and port-sourced air pollution. For review inclusion, studies had to (1) use a HIA methodology; (2) quantify the air pollution concentration attributable to at least one shipping or port activity scenario; (3) assess at least one health outcome (i.e. epidemiological measure or monetization); (4) quantify the attributable health burden of the respective scenario.

RESULTS

Thirty-two studies were included, studying predominantly European Sea shipping/ port-sourced emissions with health impacts for global or respective European populations. Also, Global, Asian, North American and Australian Sea shipping/ port-sourced emissions were studied, with attributable health impacts for global or respective populations. The health outcome predominantly studied was mortality (all-cause, cause-specific, loss in life expectancy, years of life lost (YLLs)), but also morbidity (disease cases, hospital admissions, years lived with disability (YLDs)), disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), restricted activity days and work loss days. The highest air pollution concentrations were identified along major shipping routes and ports, and the strongest health impacts occurred among respective riparian populations. Globally, ∼265,000 premature deaths were projected for 2020 (∼0.5% of global mortality) attributable to global shipping-sourced emissions. Emission control scenarios studied were predominantly sulphur fuel content caps and NO_x emission reduction scenarios, consisting of technological interventions, cleaner fuels or fuel switches, and were assessed as effective in reducing shipping-sourced emissions, and hence, health burdens.

CONCLUSIONS

Our review positions maritime transport an important source of air pollution and health risk factor, which needs more research and policy attention and rigorous emission control efforts, as shipping-sourced emissions are projected to increase with increases in global trade and shipping volumes.

R. Morrison L, Bean de Hernández A, Rakic S, AlOmran M, Alsukait RF, Herbst CH, AlBalawi S. Effective options for addressing air quality– related environmental public health burdens in Saudi Arabia

Air pollution poses major disease burdens globally and accounts for approximately 10% of deaths annually through its contribution to a variety of respiratory, cardiovascular, and other diseases. The burden of disease is particularly acute in Saudi Arabia, where a mix of anthropogenic and natural sources of air pollution threatens public health. Addressing these burdens requires careful study of the costs and effectiveness of available technologies and policies for reducing emissions (mitigation) and avoiding exposure (adaptation). To help evaluate these options, we conduct a semi-systematic literature review of over 3,000 articles published since 2010 that were identified by searches of literature focused on pollution mitigation and pollution adaptation. We identify a wide variety of effective mitigation and adaptation technologies and find that cost-effectiveness information for policy design is highly variable in the case of mitigation, both within and across pollution source categories; or scarce, in the case of adaptation. While pollution control costs are well studied, policy costs differ; these may vary more by location because of factors such as technology operating conditions and behavioral responses to adaptation initiatives, limiting the generalizability of cost-effectiveness information. Moreover, potential cost advantages of multipollutant control policies are likely to depend on the existing mix of pollution sources and controls. While the policy literature generally favors more flexible compliance mechanisms that increase the cost of polluting to reflect its costs to society, important policy design factors include policy co-benefits, distributional concerns, and inter-regional harmonization. In addition to these key themes, we find that further study is needed both to improve the availability of cost information for adaptation interventions and to localize technology and policy cost estimates to the Saudi context.

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Literature review of environmental public health technology and policy options.

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Air pollution mitigation options have considerable cost variation.

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Air pollution adaptation options lack thorough cost effectiveness evaluation.

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Policy effectiveness will depend heavily on local conditions and design.

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Saudi Arabia requires a mix of mitigation and adaptation public health options.

Estimating the health and economic burden of shipping related air pollution in the Iberian Peninsula

Air pollution is the leading cause of the global burden of disease from the environment, entailing substantial economic consequences. International shipping is a significant source of NO_x, SO₂, CO and PM, which can cause known negative health impacts. Thus, this study aimed to estimate the health impacts and the associated external costs of ship-related air pollution in the Iberian Peninsula for 2015. Moreover, the impact of CAP2020 regulations on 2015 emissions was studied. Log-linear functions based on WHO-HRAPIE relative risks for PM_2.5 and NO₂ all-cause mortality and morbidity health end-points, and integrated exposure-response functions for PM_2.5 cause-specific mortality, were used to calculate the excess burden of disease. The number of deaths and years of life lost (YLL) due to NO₂ ship-related emissions was similar to those of PM_2.5 ship-related emissions. Estimated all-cause premature deaths attributable to PM_2.5 ship-related emissions represented an average increase of 7.7% for the Iberian Peninsula when compared to the scenario without shipping contribution. Costs of around 9 100 million € yr-1 (for value of statistical life approach - VSL) and 1 825 million € yr^-1 (for value of life year approach - VOLY) were estimated for PM and NO₂ all-cause burden of disease. For PM_2.5 cause-specific mortality, a cost of around 3 475 million € yr^-1 (for VSL approach) and 851 million € yr^-1 (for VOLY approach) were estimated. Costs due to PM and NO₂ all-cause burden represented around 0.72% and 0.15% of the Iberian Peninsula gross domestic product in 2015, respectively for VSL and VOLY approaches. For PM_2.5 cause-specific mortality, costs represented around 0.28% and 0.06%, respectively, for VSL and VOLY approaches. If CAP2020 regulations had been applied in 2015, around 50% and 30% respectively of PM_2.5 and NO₂ ship-related mortality would been avoided. These results show that air pollution from ships has a considerable impact on health and associated costs affecting the Iberian Peninsula.

Effects of COVID-19 on the environment: An overview on air, water, wastewater, and solid waste

The COVID-19 pandemic has hit the world hardly as of the beginning of 2020 and quickly spread worldwide from its first-reported point in early Dec. 2019. By mid-March 2021, the COVID-19 almost hit all countries worldwide, with about 122 and 2.7 million confirmed cases and deaths, respectively. As a strong measure to stop the infection spread and deaths, many countries have enforced quarantine and lockdown of many activities. The shutdown of these activities has resulted in large economic losses. However, it has been widely reported that these measures have resulted in improved air quality, more specifically in highly polluted areas characterized by massive population and industrial activities. The reduced levels of carbon, nitrogen, sulfur, and particulate matter emissions have been reported and confirmed worldwide in association with lockdown periods. On the other hand, ozone levels in ambient air have been found to increase, mainly in response to the reduced nitrogen emissions. In addition, improved water quality in natural water resources has been reported as well. Wastewater facilities have reported a higher level of organic load with persistent chemicals due to the increased use of sanitizers, disinfectants, and antibiotics. The solid waste generated due to the COVID-19 pandemic was found to increase both qualitatively and quantitatively. This work presents and summarizes the observed environmental effects of COVID-19 as reported in the literature for different countries worldwide. The work provides a distinct overview considering the effects imposed by COVID-19 on the air, water, wastewater, and solid waste as critical elements of the environment.

Life cycle comparison of marine fuels for IMO 2020 Sulphur Cap

Ships, which are the backbone of world trade, are also major emission generators. IMO has prepared a regulation that came into force on January 1, 2020, in particular to reduce ship-related sulphur oxides. Accordingly, the sulphur content of the marine fuels cannot exceed 0.5% by mass. Although these fuels have a significant effect in reducing the sulphur oxides, the holistic environmental effects of the fuels must be examined within a life cycle perspective. In this study, LCA of four different marine fuels were realized and the environmental impacts of the fuels in production, distribution, and operation processes were investigated. The main purpose of this study is to increase precision by focusing on a small number of fuels, while increasing accuracy by obtaining a large number of LCA results. It is concluded that despite the success of low sulphur fuels during operation, the overall environmental effects are higher than other fuels. According to the LCA results, there are no significant differences between the fuels and HFO still remains an important and preferable fuel for the environment. Consequently, in life cycle perspective, it was concluded that the expected results of IMO 2020 Sulphur Cap are not at a desirable level. Thus, alternative fuels would be more beneficial in terms of total environmental issues and IMO should focus more on developing new regulations and policies on alternative fuels.

Recent Advances in Studying Air Quality and Health Effects of Shipping Emissions

The increase of global commerce and tourism makes the shipping sector an important contributor of atmospheric particles and gaseous pollutants. These have impacts on both health and climate, especially in populated coastal areas. Maritime activities could be an important driver for economic and social development, however, they are also an environmental pressure. Several policies were implemented in the last decades, at local/regional or international levels, mainly focused on reducing the content of sulphur in marine fuels. The last international IMO-2020 regulation was enforced on 1 January 2020. This work reviews some recent studies on this topic delineating current knowledge of the impacts of maritime emissions on air quality and health and the future projections relative to the benefits of the implementation of the new IMO-2020 regulation. In addition, future perspectives for further mitigation strategies are discussed.

Experimental Research on the Energy Efficiency of a Parallel Hybrid Drive for an Inland Ship

The growing requirements for limiting the negative impact of all modes of transport on the natural environment mean that clean technologies are becoming more and more important. The global trend of e-mobility also applies to sea and inland water transport. This article presents the results of experimental tests carried out on a life-size, parallel diesel-electric hybrid propulsion system. The efficiency of the propulsion system was analysed for two modes of operation (electric and diesel) and for different engine speeds and loads. Analysis of the impact of using a hybrid propulsion system on fuel consumption was carried out on a case study vessel and for six actual journeys. The use of hybrid propulsion in “zero emission” mode enables up to four times higher energy efficiency when compared to a conventional drive, while reducing CO2 emissions and air pollution to zero, as well as a hundred-fold reduction in noise emissions. High flexibility in the operation of such a drive enables the use of intelligent power control technology (smart propulsion). This article shows that the use of hybrid propulsion reduces the negative impact on the environment to a minimum and allows for a significant reduction in the vessel’s operating costs.

Environmental and social valuation of shipping emissions on four ports of Portugal

Maritime sector is expected to continue growing significantly in line with world trade, however its impacts on environmental, social and human health are not yet fully known. Thus, this study aimed to estimate the external costs of in-port shipping emissions (NO_x, SO₂, CO₂, VOCs and PM_2.5) and accomplish a comprehensive eco-efficiency evaluation of four ports in Portugal (Leixões, Setúbal, Sines and Viana do Castelo) during 2013. External costs were based on the external cost factors from BeTa, CAFE and NEEDS projects and from Song (2014). Eco-efficiency evaluation was based on environmental, social and economic criteria. Results showed higher externalities for Sines and Setúbal (2.0E+02 million €), followed by Leixões (1.8E+02 million €), and Viana do Castelo (6.3 million €). NO_x, SO₂, and PM_2.5 were the pollutants with the highest externalities. Sines port showed the best overall eco-efficiency. Although Setúbal port showed higher performance than Viana do Castelo port based on the economic data, when social and environmental aspects were considered the results changed. This shows the importance of performing a more comprehensive analysis using social and environmental indicators. The combination of all these indicators is highly important to support the implementation of policies for the abatement of shipping in-port emissions.

Sustainability Transitions in Baltic Sea Shipping: Exploring the Responses of Firms to Regulatory Changes

This study investigates how the introduction of more stringent environmental regulation regarding sulphur and nitrogen emission control areas induced shipping companies to react to a new situation and opened up a window of opportunity for build-up of niches for alternative vessel energy sources. By drawing on a multi-level perspective from the socio-technical transition literature, the study provides empirical evidence for how realignments in the environmental regulatory regime alter incumbent actors’ positions and produce varying environmental innovation responses to reduce air-borne pollution from shipping. The study illustrates that the stringency of a regional command-and-control regulation in combination with evolving pressures in the external landscape environment and shipping companies’ task environments are essential components shaping the adoption of environmental innovations. Although incremental innovations seem to dominate in a fossil fuel-based maritime transportation socio-technical system, our results demonstrate the role of regulations and the behaviour of frontrunners in the context of regime fragmentation and sustainability transition processes.