The Mediterranean Low Emission Zone (SECA Zone) will be introduced from 2025. Following the example of other water areas, the measure is intended to reduce the impact of ships on the maritime ecosystem.
The climate emergency and pollution levels in many cities around the world have led to the establishment of more and more environmental zones. However, this is not only happening on land. Low-emission zones have also increasingly been created on water areas. Sulphur Emission Control Areas (SECAs) have been established in many regions to restrict the emission of sulphur and sulphur oxides by seagoing ships. Restrictions have already been in place since 2006 for all seagoing ships in the Baltic Sea or in the coastal area of California diesel ships are not allowed to exceed a sulphur mass fraction of 0.5 %. Now such an emission control area has also been decided for the Mediterranean.
On 10 June this year, the 8th Marine Environment Protection Committee of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) decided to establish a SECA zone. From 2025 onwards, this zone is to cover the entire Mediterranean Sea and keep emissions of sulphur oxides and particles under control. With these specifications, the Mediterranean states are working together within the framework of the IMO for cleaner maritime traffic. This is because the establishment of the zone should contribute to an improvement of the air quality in the ports and coastal seas, as well as to a lower pollution of the Mediterranean waters.
In concrete terms, the establishment of the SECA zone will mean that all ships entering the Mediterranean will be allowed to have fuel with a sulphur content of no more than 0.1 mass percent. This corresponds to the limit set in 2015 for all SECA zones worldwide. This means that only the burning of fuels that are at least five times less polluting than those in non-SECA areas would be allowed.
The upcoming regulation and the specific requirement are based on international study work on which the Mediterranean countries have cooperated for years. In view of the environmental impact hoped for from the measure, the introduction of an emission control area is an important step for the Mediterranean region. After all, it is only fair to regulate pollutant emissions generated on the water as well. They, too, damage air quality. In fact, their impact is often more harmful to the environment than that of an old polluting car on land.
Just because shipping lanes escape our everyday gaze and are less obvious than a stretch of road in the city centre, the pollution problem on the Mediterranean cannot continue to be ignored. With the introduction of the maritime environmental zone, the committee now wants to actively change shipping. Like soil and air, environmental protection measures are to provide greater protection for waters in the future.