World trade depends heavily on the transportation of goods by sea. Over 90% of cargo in world
trade is transported using ships, producing approximately 2,6% of annual CO2 emissions. That
comes to 938 million tonnes of this greenhouse gas. Without any change in the global shipping
environmental policy, these numbers could increase by 50% and even up to 250%. Ships also
produce a whole host of other pollutants which are harmful to humans and the environment. I
wrote about these pollutants and their negative effects in my thesis. I also wrote about some of
the technical solutions for reducing harmful emissions, the legal aspects and regulations
regarding the emissions from ships and plans for reducing greenhouse emissions from ships. If
we want to meet the long term goals of reducing emissions in the maritime sector the industry
will have to switch to using low carbon and carbon-neutral fuels in the future.
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