Cruise ships caused more pollution than one billion cars, report shows

Cruise ships caused more pollution in Europe than all the continents’ cars, a new report from campaign group Transport & Environment has found.

The group found that despite the introduction of a UN shipping cap on sulphur in 2020, Europe’s 218 cruise ships emitted more sulphur oxides than one billion cars in 2022.

Although the sulphur cap had cut emissions per tonnes of fuel consumer, new ships meant that overall emissions increased.

Barcelona was the continent’s most polluted city while a British city, Southampton, also landed in the top 10.

The team’s research found that 214 cruise ships emitted 509 tonnes of sulphur oxides across Europe.

The number of ships, the time spent in port and the fuel consumed had increased from 2019, the last pre-pandemic year with data.

This was despite an apparent decrease in the number of people cruising, which had fallen by over a quarter.

Ports across Europe were polluted with top destinations in Italy, Germany, Spain and Norway all among those impacted.

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Venice, which introduced a ban on cruise ships entering the city’s lagoon, had seen an 80 percent fall in pollution.

Constance Dijkstra, shipping campaigner at Transport & Environment, said: “The pandemic provided some respite for port cities, but this is now well and truly over.

“Cruising is back and tourist hotspots like Barcelona and Athens are again choking on toxic air pollution from cruise ships.

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“Venice has shown that tackling cruise ship pollution is possible, but bans aren’t the only way.

“Ports can significantly reduce pollution levels by forcing ships to plug into electricity at the port instead of running their engines, and by supporting the adoption of zero-emission fuels.”

Top destinations including Barcelona, Palma and Marseille have seen large protests against the cruise industry.

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