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Cruise ships: the biggest climate change culprits in Europe
Leisure liners caused more pollution than all the continent’s cars last year
Spain’s commitment to reducing the nation’s carbon footprint is being badly jeopardised by its booming cruise tourism industry, a new report from campaign group Transport & Environment has found, which specified that luxury liners resulted in more environmental pollution during 2022 than all of Europe’s cars combined.
Europe currently has 218 ships cruising through its waters but last year, 214 of these produced 509 tonnes of harmful sulphur oxide, an increase on 2019 despite the introduction of emission caps since there are far more liners in operation today.
Unsurprisingly, the most popular tourist destinations registered the worst pollution, with Italy, Germany, Spain and Norway all in the bad books. In fact, Barcelona was ranked as the most polluted city on the continent while Southampton in the UK also made the infamous top ten list.
In case there was any doubt about the sheer amount of noxious chemicals emitted by these huge vessels, Venice has managed to reduce its pollution levels by a staggering 80% since banning cruise ships from entering its port.
Spokesperson for Transport & Environment Constance Dijkstra went so far as to say that tourist hotspots like Athens are Barcelona are now “choking on toxic air pollution” from the ocean liners.
“The pandemic provided some respite for port cities, but this is now well and truly over.
“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.”
In a bid to make this valuable industry more sustainable, Cartagena Port Authority plans to provide an electricity supply to the cruise ships that stop at the Juan Sebastián Elcano dock within the next two years, in addition to connecting vessels to the local grid at the Santa Lucía and Escombreras docks throughout the next decade.
Image: Pexels
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