Climate & environment

Denmark prohibits the discharge of scrubber water

Agneta Elmegård

Updated 08.18 | Published 2024-05-29 16.33

In Denmark, it is above all the association "Council for the Green Transition" that has pushed the issue of a ban on scrubbers against the Danish government. The ban will come into force on 1 July 2025 for ships with open scrubbers. For ships with closed scrubbers, the ban comes into force on 1 July 2029.

When shipping tightened the emission rules for exhaust gases in 2020, many ships installed what are called scrubbers. A scrubber cleans the exhaust gases with the help of seawater, but what remains is polluted water that is often released directly into the sea. Now Denmark becomes the first country in the Nordics to ban this technology.

Cleaner air produced more toxic seas. A scrubber is used to clean ship exhaust by washing it in a fine spray of seawater. The emission of acidifying sulfur oxides into the atmosphere is decreasing, but the wash water itself, which contains a range of pollutants such as heavy metals and organic environmental toxins, is usually released into the sea and leads to a strong acidification of the sea water.

Denmark has, as the first Baltic Sea nation, decided to att introduce a ban on the discharge of scrubber water in its economic zone. This means that unclean scrubber water from ships may not be discharged beyond the Danish coasts as of July 1, 2025. Environmental experts at the IVL Swedish Environmental Institute describe the decision as a great success in the work for a sustainable marine environment.

- This is very pleasing news. Scrubber water from ships is a significant and completely unnecessary source of environmentally hazardous substances in the marine environment, and something that all countries should address as soon as possible. Now Finland is very close to a scrubber ban and we hope that Sweden will be motivated to follow suit, says Maria Granberg, marine ecotoxicologist at IVL in a press release.

Researchers at IVL and Chalmers have on several occasions drawn attention to how harmful the scrubber water is to the environment and argued that the technology should be banned. Ireland, Germany, Norway, Spain and Portugal have banned the technology, while Latvia has banned emissions 3 nautical miles from land.

*********************

Heat wave in Pakistan - on the way to a new record
Scientists and authorities: Depends on climate change

Christina Nordh

Published 2024-05-28 10.36

The prolonged heat wave wears on the elderly and the young. Here, two children, who suffered from heat-related stomach illness, receive treatment at the hospital in Hyderabad, Pakistan. Doctors have treated hundreds of patients for heat stroke in several hospitals in Pakistan. The heat wave is due to human-caused climate change, according to Pakistani authorities. Photo: Pervez Masih / AP

The temperature in Pakistan is on the way to a record.

The prolonged heat wave has now sent the mercury up to 52 degrees Celsius.

In Sindh in the south of the country, the temperature reached 52.2 degrees Celsius in the last 24 hours, according to Shahid Abbas of the Pakistan Meteorological Institute.

Warmest this year

The measurement is the highest so far this year and close to the city's record of 53.5 degrees. The country's heat record is 54 degrees.

- Pakistan ranks fifth among countries that are vulnerable to climate change. We have seen rains that are not normal and floods, Rubina Khursheed Alan, who is the climate coordinator for the Prime Minister, told the Times of India.

Scientists: Caused by man

According to the researchers, the extreme temperatures in several countries in Asia in the past month are due to human-caused climate change.

Sardar Sarfaraz, chief meteorologist at the Pakistan Meteorological Institute, says the highest recorded temperature on record is 54 degrees in the town of Turbat in the southwestern province of Balochistan in 2017.

It was the second highest temperature in Asia and the fourth highest in the world.