NABU urges OSPAR to ban scrubbers and protect North-East Atlantic

Naturschutzbund Deutschland (NABU), a German environmental association, has sent a letter signed by 14 environmental protection organizations to the OSPAR Commission, calling for an end to heavy fuel oil and scrubbers.

OSPAR Convention is the current legislative instrument regulating international cooperation on environmental protection in the North-East Atlantic.

In the letter, the organizations demand that the Atlantic coastal states ban the discharge of wastewater from exhaust gas cleaning systems (EGCSs) in the 12-mile zone along the coast.

“The 12-nautical-mile discharge ban for wastewater from EGCS should be adopted at the OSPAR ministerial meeting in summer 2025,” the organizations said.

“Given the nature of EGCS wastewater and the established risks, waiting for consensus at the IMO would be a missed opportunity for OSPAR to exercise leadership in protecting the North-East Atlantic,” the organizations stressed.

Scrubbers are used by ships that continue to run on heavy fuel oil instead of, for example, marine diesel. The high sulfur concentrations in the exhaust gas stream are washed out with the help of water. This wash water then ends up in the sea contaminated with sulfur and pollutants. The heavy metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and other toxic substances it contains lead to long-term damage to the marine environment, according to NABU.

“This practice, which is devastating for the marine environment, must be stopped immediately. The OSPAR Commission has a central role as a pioneer for the protection of the marine environment in the North-East Atlantic,”Raija Koch, NABU Shipping Expert, commented.

“It must use this pioneering role and focus on the precautionary principles and the protection of marine ecosystems.”

The UN’s International Maritime Organization (IMO) recently encouraged countries to take regional measures to protect the marine environment.

“Waiting for a global consensus on the scrubber ban must not be used as an excuse for inaction,” Raija Koch continued.

Germany should advocate for the discharge ban at OSPAR and combine this with an overall effective marine protection policy, according to Koch.

“The discharge of wash water, habitat destruction, overfishing and nutrient pollution prevent the achievement of good environmental status according to the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive. It is time to make shipping more responsible for protecting nature and the climate. This must be translated into a credible marine protection policy of the future federal government, together with intelligent spatial planning, use-free marine protected areas and the restoration of salt and seagrass meadows and reefs,” Kim Detloff, NABU Head of Marine Protection, said.

In related news, the Danish government last year prohibited the discharge of scrubber water from ships into the marine environment within 22 kilometers of the Danish coasts.

The Swedish government has decided to follow suit and is set to prohibit discharges from open-loop scrubbers into water within the Swedish maritime territory from July 1, 2025.