Scientists Say Cutting Sulfur Emissions Will Increase Global Warming

The IMO’s Marine Environmental Protection Committee meets next week, but the ‘Centre for International Climate and Environmental Research’ in Oslo, Norway says the body will not address setting limits on regulating carbon emissions from shipping. Yet, it will confirm plans to slash the permitted sulphur content of fuel oil burned by ships.

According to a report in the New Scientist, when world shipping radically cuts sulphur emissions from ships, it will ironically increase global warming, Sulphur dioxide (SO2) emissions will diminish by as much as 90 percent and with it goes the haze of sulphate particles. Also, sulphate particles act as nuclei around which water droplets form making the skies cloudier.

And, according to the report, that’s where the problems lines. By shading the planet, the haze partially masks the warming effects of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, which is also produced by the world’s fleet of 100,000 ships.

Direct SO2 shading from shipping is estimated to cool the planet by 31 milliwatts per square meter. And, though it’s hard to model precisely, the report says, the influence on cloud formations is likely to be three times that, but SO2 only stays in the air for a few days. If it were not constantly replaced, the warming effect of ships’ emissions would quickly dominate, and that lasts for centuries.

Almost a billion tons of CO2 are emitted annually by shipping, some 3 percent of the global total. The IMO had planned to address the issue next week, but the plans are on hold.

“The world is set to suffer a double warming effect from shipping, one from CO2 and one from the reduction of SO2,” says Jan Fuglestvedt of the Centre for International Climate and Environmental Research.

FYI: ((Preview: Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) – 60th
session: 22-26 March, 2010. GHG emissions high on agenda at IMO environment meeting: The reduction of greenhouse gases (GHGs) from international shipping
will be a major focus for the Marine Environment Protection Committee
(MEPC) of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), when it meets
for its 60th session from 22 to 26 March 2010, at the IMO Headquarters in
London. ))