MEPC 83: Northeast Atlantic ECA gets IMO backing

At the ongoing Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) meeting, member states of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) have reached an agreement to establish an Emission Control Area (ECA) in the Northeast Atlantic Ocean.

IMAGE: A map of the North Atlantic ECA area. ICCT

The Northeast Atlantic ECA will extend from the coastlines of Portugal, Spain and France through the British Isles, up to Iceland and Greenland. This would make it “the world’s largest ECA in terms of geographical area covered,” according to the German environmental organisation Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union (NABU).

The proposal was submitted ahead of MEPC 83 by a broad coalition of countries, including Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the European Commission (EC).

A separate submission was also made by several environmental organisations, including Friends of the Earth International (FOEI), World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), Pacific Environment, and the Clean Shipping Coalition (CSC).

The ECA aims to regulate ship emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulphur oxides (SOx), and particulate matter (PM), with projected reductions of up to 82% in SOx and 64% in PM.

“Today marks a historic day in air pollution reduction from ships,” said NABU’s shipping expert Sönke Diesener. He added, “Moreover, the Northeast Atlantic ECA will close the gap between existing ECAs in North and Baltic Sea and Mediterranean Sea. Thereby almost all European waters will be Emission Control Areas soon.”

The Northeast Atlantic ECA could come into effect as early as 2027.

The Mediterranean Sea is scheduled to become an ECA on 1 May 2025.

By Tuhin Roy

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