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Environmental groups have today welcomed a European Parliament vote that will lower the sulphur limit on marine fuels.

The Directive on Sulphur in Marine Fuels which was tentatively agreed upon before the summer break by the European Parliament negotiators, the Commission and the Council, has today been formally adopted by an overwhelming majority of MEPs.

The new law confirms that a global limit of 0.5% agreed in the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) will apply in all EU seas by 2020. This represents an 85% cut compared with the current 3.5% limit.

Until this new agreement some uncertainty remained over the entry-into-force date of the IMO global standard in Europe. But the EU has now sent a clear signal that it wants cleaner fuels in EU waters, whilst still leaving eight years for the industry to adapt.

It also confirmed an even stricter sulphur limit of 0.1% for 2015, which applies toulphur Emissions Control Areas (SECAs) in the Baltic Sea, the North Sea and the English Channel.

Green groups welcomed the adoption of the new law as a significant step towards the reduction of air pollution from shipping.

Transport and export shipping specialist Antoine Kedzierski said: "This is a very encouraging first step. Now the EU needs to follow the USA and Canada by making the entire EU coastline a low-SO2 and low-NOx-zone, and by beefing up its enforcement regime.”

Louise Duprez, Policy Officer on air pollution at the European Environmental Bureau (EEB), said: "Today’s vote is good news for all EU citizens. Shipping air pollution causes 50,000 premature deaths in Europe every year so this reduction will bring clear benefits to people’s health, quality of life and environment, as well as leading to important public health savings.”

Green NGOs are now urging the European Commission and Member States to address other types of pollutants from ships, such as CO2. Nitrogen oxides emissions from ships are also of great concern, say the NGOs, but there are still no EU standards or measures in place for controlling their release. They have call upon the Commission to propose measures to address nitrogen oxides from both new and existing ships as soon as possible.

The European Commission has launched a wide review of its air policies. The review is expected to end next year with the adoption of legislative proposals aimed at reducing the adverse impacts of air pollution in Europe.