CO2 EMISSION REGULATIONS
This article is based on the introduction section of my thesis titled “CO2 EMISSION REGULATIONS”. I completed my thesis under the guidance of my esteemed advisor, Prof. Dr. Kadir Sarıöz, from the Faculty of Naval Architecture and Marine Sciences at Istanbul Technical University. In this article, I will provide an overview of the climate change caused by global greenhouse gas emissions, its impact on the maritime industry, and the measures taken to address these challenges. If you would like to access the full study, feel free to contact me.
The uncontrolled increment in the world population, industrialization and urbanization are known to have rapidly increased the demand for natural resources. In other words, energy is needed in every activity of human beings in order to maintain their daily life, so there is no doubt that the energy demand is rising every passing day. However, it is obvious fact that the uncontrolled use of energy resulted in various global problems. Climate change is one of the most prominent global issues that has attracted the attention of global academic researchers, policy makers and other relevant professionals. In addition, climate change has caused several problems such as global warming, ecological imbalance, technological issues, economic issues, and societal issues. The increasing concentration of greenhouse gas emissions is considered to be the main reason of these issues. Thus, greenhouse gas reduction has become a major topic of the global community. It has been initiated movements by the public and then many governments in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The greenhouse gasses (or GHG for short) which is any gas in the atmosphere which absorbs and re‐emits heat, and thereby keeps the planet’s atmosphere warmer than it otherwise would be [1]. GHGs, which have become a worldwide problem, have caused many international organizations and governments to conduct research and investigation. In consequence of the researches, it was clearly seen that the concentration of these gases in the atmosphere increased significantly. Consequently, it was necessary to raise various awareness in order to prevent this increase by showing this situation in various ways. As the awareness public in environmental issues increased in the 1980s, governments also became more conscious of climate-related issues. It is initiated research into environmental problems worldwide and the first evidence of the effects of human activities on climate emerged in 1979 during the First World Climate Conference (WCC). The United Nations General Assembly called for the “protection of the global climate for present and future generations of humanity” in its resolution 45/53, which was adopted in 1988 upon the recommendation of the Maltese Government [2].
In the same year, the World Meteorological Organization and the governing bodies of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) established a new organization called the “Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change” (IPCC). The task of the IPCC would be to research and evaluate scientific information on this subject and published its first Assessment Report in 1990. The report has contained scientific, political and economic discussions by 400 scientists from 25 countries in order to obtain scientific data on climate change [3]. Topics such as global warming, greenhouse gases, the greenhouse effect, sea level changes, forcing of climate and history of Earth’s changing climate constitute the content of the report. As a result of the report, it is confirmed that the threat of climate change was a reality problem. The findings of the panel led to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) opened for signature at the UN Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio in June 1992. The UNFCCC is the first environmental agreement entered into force in 1994 with the ratification of 188 countries as well as the European Union [4]. The ultimate purpose is reducing the rates of greenhouse gases and keeping the negative effects of these gases at a certain level.
As a result of negotiations lasted for about 3 years, the protocol, which is an extension of the UNFCCC, was adopted at the Conference in Kyoto, Japan in December 1997. It basically has the same foundations and objectives as the UNFCCC. However, there were many deficiencies in the contract, so in order to eliminate these deficiencies, the contract was strengthened by adding new rules to the protocol. The Protocol, which currently covers 160 countries and more than 55% of greenhouse gas emissions, was opened for signature in New York in 1998 and only entered into force in 2005 with the accession of Russia in 2004 [5]. The main purpose of the protocol; to ensure that the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere remains at a level that does not threaten the climate. Building upon the static differentiation between ‘developed’ and ‘developing’ countries embedded in the Convention, the Protocol imposed binding emission reduction targets only on the developed country. With ever growing emissions in emerging economies, like China and India, however, the IPCC has repeatedly flagged that reducing emissions in developed countries only would not be enough. Therefore, various discussions and conferences were held to find a more permanent solution. After the long process of crafting a new international climate regime that began with the adoption of the Bali Roadmap in 2007, failed spectacularly in Copenhagen 2009, and resumed with a new approach in Durban 2011; on 12 December 2015, the 21st Conference of the Parties to The UNFCCC adopted the “Paris Agreement” [6].
This Agreement aims to strengthen the implementation of the Convention, to reinforce the global response to the threat of climate change in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication efforts, as well as the following articles:
The Agreement will also be implemented in a way that reflects the principle of equality and common but differentiated responsibility. To sum up, since a binding agreement brings all nations into a common reason in order to undertake ambitious efforts to combat climate change and adapt to its effects, The Paris Agreement was a landmark in the multilateral greenhouse gasses process.
The Paris Agreement specified six main greenhouse gases which significantly impact the environment: namely CO2 (carbon dioxide), CH4 (methane), NOx (nitrous oxide), SOx (sulphur oxides), HFCs (hydrofluorocarbons) and PFCs (perfluorocarbons) [8]. Among them, SOx, NOx and CO2 are the most researched ones. SOx, NOx and CO2 are the gases that attract the most attention and are the subject of researches.
Sulphur oxides or SOx (principally SO2) that are one of the major air pollution sources of shipping industry. They are formed in combustion process by oxidation of sulphur in marine fuel oil, and then dissolve in the water of the atmosphere and form sulphuric acid which is a major cause of acid rain [9]. It is known fact that acid rain is a significant reason of the contamination of forests and lakes or even the destruction of forests, food supplies and local flora and fauna. According to IMO researches, the emissions of SOx came to approximately 10.6 million tonnes due to the low-grade or high-Sulphur marine fuel oil. The ship industry has attracted attention since Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO) contains a plenty of Sulphur than other industry [10]. In brief, SOx emissions have a destructive effect on not only human health but also environment.
Nitrous oxide (NOx) is other greenhouse gas that brings about environmental contamination, deceases and health problems, most distinctly to respiratory system. NOx emissions can lead to the phenomenon of acid rain and even directly affect global warming. Furthermore, he reaction between N2 and O2 inside engines as well as the increased temperature of the engines is major source of NOx emissions.
A number of sectors such as manufacturing industries and construction, international aviation, domestic navigation, transportation, road are sectors that cause carbon emissions (see in Figure 1.1). Evidence indicates that the transport sector is one of the major emitters of CO2 emissions in the world because a high share of transport energy demand comes from fossil fuels. For example, the transport industry uses over 90% of its energy from fossil fuels [11].
For instance, carbon dioxide emissions have increased from 22.15 Gt in 1990 to 36.14 Gt in 2014 [12]. According to Heede [13], 80% of global carbon emissions are caused by urban human activities. Human activities such as fuel combustion during vehicular transportation, power generation emits large quantities of carbon dioxide to the environment. Moreover, construction operations and other industrial operations have also been recognized as major carbon emission sources. By virtue of these reasons, it is attempted to explain the CO2 greenhouse gas in this graduation thesis.
In this dissertation, the procedures aiming to minimize GHG emissions all around world will be examined, as well as the consequences of carbon dioxide emissions from ships in the maritime sector, the strategies taken to prevent them, their efficiency, and the achievements. The Energy Efficiency Design Index, which is a technical overview implemented to ships in the new design phase, will be presented in detail. The expansion of carbon dioxide emissions in the maritime sector, as well as IMO regulations, are discussed in Chapter 2. These regulations are evaluated at from two approaches: technically and operationally. The technical overview, as well as the detailed rules and methodology of EEDI calculation, are provided in Chapter 3. Afterwards, EEDI calculations of each of them were analyzed whether 4 different types of ships complied with the regulations described for the calculations in the 4th chapter. Improvements that can be undertaken for ships that do not comply with the regulations, as well as their effectiveness, are reviewed in the discussion section. In the conclusion section, it is stated how carbon emissions will impact and what they are expected to cause in the future if regulations are not enforced appropriately.
