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A new report by the European Commission's Joint Research Center (JRC) provides an overview of methodologies for estimating air emissions from shipping and proposes policy options for reducing carbon emissions and air pollution in maritime transport.

Shipping is currently the most environmentally-friendly mode of transport, transporting 90 percent of global goods while accounting for only around 4 percent of global man-made CO2 emissions.

Although maritime transport has the lowest ratio of CO2 emissions per tonne, its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are expected to significantly increase from around 1 giga-tonne per year, by an estimated 150-200 percent over the next four decades.

Technical solutions to reduce fuel consumption, air pollutants and greenhouse gases are readily available and range from better ship design, propulsion and machinery to optimised operation.

The new JRC Reference Report "Regulating air emissions from ships: the state of the art on methodologies, technologies and policy options":

* analyses the methodologies to assess the impacts of the maritime sector on the environment, and identifies shortcomings in reliable and comprehensive sources of information;

* describes the existing technological solutions to reduce fuel consumption, air pollutants and greenhouse gases in detail and assesses their cost-benefit efficiency;

* reviews market-based options addressing both regional and global measures - such as a GHG Emission Trading Scheme (ETS) for the shipping sector - which are needed on top of technical solutions in order to achieve significant improvements.

Commenting on the report, Research, Innovation and Science Commissioner Maire Geoghegan Quinn said: "This JRC report underlines why pollution from shipping, like that from many other sources, needs to be reduced both to help tackle climate change and to prevent severe damage to human health. It also discusses options for how a combination of technological innovation and market-based policies could deliver the reductions needed.

“This study is also a perfect example of how the scientific work done by the Commission's Joint Research Centre can help drive political progress towards the EU's Innovation Union and Europe 2020 goals," added Geoghegan Quinn.

The 68-page report can be viewed by visiting the following address below:

http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/jrc/downloads/jrc_reference_report_2010_11_ships_emissions.pdf