Marine
Oceangoing vessels, currently the dominant mode of transport for international cargo, are an extremely efficient means of moving goods—but also an increasingly important source of air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. Carbon dioxide emissions from international shipping more than doubled between 1990 and 2007. The sector now generates about 2.7 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions, and recent industry growth projections suggest it could account for seven percent of global emissions by 2050.
A fraction of the conventional pollutants produced by shipping—primarily sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides and particulates—are released far from land; but an estimated 70 to 80 percent is released within 400 kilometers (248 miles) of shore, where it can have substantial effects on human health.
While regulations in the United States, Canada, Europe and Japan have reduced the sulfur content of diesel for passenger cars and heavy-duty trucks to 15 parts per million or less, ships routinely consume fuels with levels thousands of times that. Because lower fuel sulfur levels also enable the installation of controls for other pollutants, decreasing the sulfur content of ship fuels can reduce emissions of particulates and nitrogen oxides.
The ICCT is working through the International Maritime Organization, a United Nations body that regulates shipping worldwide, to develop strategies to address the air quality and climate impact of oceangoing vessels. In October 2008, 18 months after the publication of an ICCT report that spelled out options for reducing emissions from ocean-going ships, the standards for conventional pollutants from ships were substantially tightened. These revised regulations allow the creation of emission control areas in coastal waters and other sensitive maritime environments where lower sulfur fuels and other emission reduction technologies would be required. ICCT is also contributing to the IMO process to establish a framework for climate change mitigation by examining technologies, operational measures and other approaches to reducing marine greenhouse gas emissions.
How nations decide to regulate marine emissions over the next decade, either individually or collectively through international organizations such as the IMO, will hold important implications for air quality and the global climate.
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Attribute-based efficiency standards
This paper summarizes differences between size-based and mass-based standards and discusses their relative advantages and disadvantages. The authors argue for a reconsideration of the mass-based regulatory framework where it is in use and against its extension into as-yet-unregulated light-duty vehicleCNG Bus Emissions Roadmap
The availability and low cost of natural gas, less stringent new engine emissions standards, and fuel sulfur levels that inhibit the use of the most advanced diesel engines all contribute to a continued high level of interest in CNG vehiclesCongestion Charging: Challenges and Opportunities
Summarizes congestion-charging programs aimed in reducing motor-vehicle traffic: in-place systems in London, Singapore, and Stockholm; a 1980s pilot program and subsequent follow-on studies in Hong Kong; and a 2007 ICCT-sponsored study of Santa Clara County, California.Feebate best practices
