ENDS Europe - Thursday 8 March 2012

Baltic Sea nations have finalised their application to the International Maritime Organization for a nitrogen oxides emissions control area (NECA), but will not make a decision on when to submit it until June.

The application was agreed at a meeting of the Helsinki-based Helcom commission on the protection of the Baltic earlier this week. It cannot be submitted until Lithuania and Latvia have finished internal consultations on the proposal.

The issue has been on Helcom's agenda since 2010 but the application process has been delayed by the detailed economic and environmental analyses required from each country.

Designation of the Baltic as a NECA is expected to cut NOx emissions from ships by 60%. The gradual phase-out of more polluting vessels means that the full effects will not be seen until 2045. Lower NOx levels would improve air quality and cut eutrophication in the Baltic.

Russia has complained that the only commercially available systems capable of meeting the NECA target are inefficient and expensive, but Helcom’s executive secretary Monica Stankiewicz said more options are expected soon.

Helcom members also agreed to co-operate more closely on monitoring Russia’s Luga river, where unexpectedly high emissions of phosphorous have recently been found.

Follow-up:

Press release and briefing on the NECA proposal