How net zero plans to cut pollution have accelerated global warming
Story by Jim Norton • 21h
Just five years ago, it was championed as a landmark victory for the environment – the introduction of new rules that would ensure cleaner skies and healthier lungs, and bring the world one step closer to net zero. For decades, the globe’s 60,000-strong fleet of cargo ships had been belching out up to 13 million tons of sulphur every year, contributing to devastating acid rain and untold numbers of premature deaths from pulmonary diseases.
Something had to be done, officials at the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) decided, and the answer seemed obvious: cut emissions. In 2020, with little public fanfare, the UN agency responsible for regulating global shipping introduced strict new regulations requiring captains drastically to slash their vessels’ sulphur pollution by nearly 80 per cent. A win for the environmentalists it seemed.
“The sulphur limit is just one tool in the IMO’s efforts to ensure a more sustainable and greener shipping industry – and in particular the decarbonisation of shipping,” boasted Edmund Hughes, the IMO’s head of air pollution and energy efficiency at the time. And a year on, the agency announced the “extremely smooth” transition had been a resounding success – “ushering in a new era of cleaner air”.
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