Tag: CO2

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its fourth year of Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program data, detailing greenhouse gas pollution trends and emissions broken down by industrial sector, geographic region and individual facilities. In 2013, reported emissions from large industrial facilities were 20 million metric tons higher than the prior year, or 0.6 percent, driven largely by an increase in coal use for power generation. “Climate change, fueled by greenhouse gas pollution, is threatening our health, our economy, and our way of life—increasing our risks from intense extreme weather, air pollution, drought and disease,” said EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy. “EPA is supporting the President’s Climate Action Plan by providing high-quality greenhouse gas data to inform effective climate action.” The Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program is the only program that collects facility-level greenhouse gas data from major industrial sources across the United States, including power plants, oil and gas production and refining, iron and steel mills and landfills. The program also collects data on the increasing production and consumption of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) predominantly used in refrigeration and air conditioning. Over 8,000 large-emitters reported direct greenhouse gas emissions to the program in 2013, representing approximately 50 percent of total U.S. emissions. The data ...

Offshore carbon dioxide (CO2) pipelines could potentially pose a risk for offshore infrastructures, ships and the marine environment. To demonstrate that CO2 pipelines can be operated safely and to ensure the risks are well understood, industry stakeholders have asked DNV GL to initiate a Joint Industry Project (JIP) "CO2 Subsea Releases - Small Scale Experimental Programme''. Several major operators have already joined the ‘Sub-C-O2' JIP including: National Grid, ENI, and Petrobras, but there is still time for others to join. The number of offshore CO2 pipelines is expected to grow significantly in the future, as Carbon Capture, Utilisation & Storage (CCUS) technology is deployed to mitigate CO2 emissions from power plants or other large industrial sources such as steel or cement factories. "CCUS is again gaining momentum as part of the solution in meeting climate goals while also securing sufficient energy. As fossil based fuels continue to be part of the energy mix in the foreseeable future, CCUS will be critical particularly for redusing emissions from coal fired power plants. With this JIP DNV GL aims to bring together industry players to ensure that this technology can be used safely and with a full understanding of associated risks", says Elisabeth ...

Click on the image for a larger view (Image Credit: Maersk Line, Sustainability and Maersk Sustainability Report 2013)   Morten Engelstoft,  Maersk's CEO of Services and Other Shipping, says CO2 issues will be on his agenda as a newly appointed member of a UN High-level Advisory Group for Sustainable Transport. The cause to champion CO2 reduction in shipping has been given a boost from a Maersk Group perspective. Morten Engelstoft, CEO of Services and Other Shipping, has recently been appointed by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon as a member of a High-Level Advisory Group on Sustainable Transport. The 12-member group, which is established for a period of three years, will provide recommendations at all global, national, local and sector levels, to promote sustainable transport systems, including climate action. "I am very proud to be appointed to the advisory group and look forward to contribute to advancing future sustainable transport - a subject which is highly important to the Maersk Group," says Engelstoft. Engelstoft names CO2 reduction as one of his top priorities. He says: "There is a need to push for a global level playing field with CO2 regulations for the shipping sector to be clearly defined in the IMO". He ...

A global report released this week on changing carbon dioxide levels in Earth's atmosphere, oceans, and land environment draws heavily from data and observations by NOAA

In advance of a critical intergovernmental meeting next month at the UN International Maritime Organization (IMO), the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) has called on IMO Member States to give careful consideration to shipowners' concerns about the implementation of an avalanche of new environmental regulations, which are about to impact on ship operations at more or less the same time. ICS Chairman, Masamichi Morooka, explained: "The shipping industry is not in any way questioning the need for these important new IMO rules and is fully committed to implementation.  But governments need to address some very important issues if they wish to avoid confusion and market distortion." In advance of next month's IMO Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC), the ICS Board of Directors, which met in London this week, reviewed the solutions that ICS is proposing to governments with respect to the serious implementation concerns associated with entry into force of the IMO Ballast Water Management Convention, and new MARPOL regulations to reduce sulphur emissions.  The ICS Board also reviewed the continuing debate at IMO about additional measures to reduce ships' CO2 emissions. Making the Ballast Convention Work "ICS fully supports the objectives of the Ballast Convention and recognises that its ...

Making the Ballast Convention Work In advance of a critical intergovernmental meeting next month at the UN International Maritime Organization (IMO), the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) has called on IMO Member States to give careful consideration to shipowners' concerns about the implementation of an avalanche of new environmental regulations, which are about to impact on ship operations at more or less the same time.ICS Chairman, Masamichi Morooka, explained: "The shipping industry is not in any way questioning the need for these important new IMO rules and is fully committed to implementation. But governments need to address some very important issues if they wish to avoid confusion and market distortion."In advance of next month's IMO Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC), the ICS Board of Directors, which met in London this week, reviewed the solutions that ICS is proposing to governments with respect to the serious implementation concerns associated with entry into force of the IMO Ballast Water Management Convention, and new MARPOL regulations to reduce sulphur emissions. The ICS Board also reviewed the continuing debate at IMO about additional measures to reduce ships' CO2 emissions.Making the Ballast Convention Work"ICS fully supports the objectives of the Ballast Convention and recognises that ...

The amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere reached a new record high in 2013, propelled by a surge in levels of carbon dioxide. This is according to the World Meteorological Organization's annual Greenhouse Gas Bulletin, which injected even greater urgency into the need for concerted international action against accelerating and potentially devastating climate change. The Greenhouse Gas Bulletin showed that between 1990 and 2013 there was a 34% increase in radiative forcing - the warming effect on our climate - because of long-lived greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide (CO2), methane and nitrous oxide. In 2013, concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere was 142% of the pre-industrial era (1750), and of methane and nitrous oxide 253% and 121% respectively. The observations from WMO's Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) network showed that CO2 levels increased more between 2012 and 2013 than during any other year since 1984. Preliminary data indicated that this was possibly related to reduced CO2 uptake by the earth's biosphere in addition to the steadily increasing CO2 emissions. The WMO Greenhouse Gas Bulletin reports on atmospheric concentrations - and not emissions - of greenhouse gases. Emissions represent what goes into the atmosphere. Concentrations represent what remains in the atmosphere ...

Record GHG levels impact oceas

BSR's Clean Cargo Working Group's 2014 "Global Maritime Trade Lane Emissions Factors" report-which provides data from more than 2,900 ships, representing around 85 percent of global ocean container capacity-indicates that average carbon-dioxide emissions for global ocean container transport have declined year on year, and by nearly 8 percent between 2012 and 2013. While changes in carrier representation or global trade conditions may account for part of the emissions reductions described in the report, the continued performance improvement is also attributed to carrier fleet efficiency and year-on-year improvements in data quality. The report, which includes data from 23 of the world's leading ocean container carriers, helps global ocean transport providers and their shipping customers to measure, evaluate, and report on environmental performance data. Additionally, for the first time, the report includes aggregated average utilization factors for each trade lane. Users can include this data in carbon-footprint calculations as a more accurate approach to calculating shipment-level transport performance. The analysis of the data over the two-year period assessed show that the average utilization across all the largest trade lanes is close to 70 percent, with some variation from year to year. "By reporting using a standardized methodology, the ocean container sector is ...

Emissions for global ocean container transport declines