Shipping emissions regulations enacted in 2020 improved air quality but accelerated warming, with more to follow in the near future.
Shipping emissions regulations enacted in 2020 improved air quality but accelerated warming, with more to follow in the near future.
Last year marked Earth’s warmest year on record. A new study finds that some of 2023’s record warmth, nearly 20 percent, likely came as a result of reduced sulfur emissions from the shipping industry. Much of this warming concentrated over the northern hemisphere.
The work, led by scientists at the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, published today in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.
Regulations put into effect in 2020 by the International Maritime Organization required a roughly 80 percent reduction in the sulfur content of shipping fuel used globally. That reduction meant fewer sulfur aerosols flowed into Earth’s atmosphere.
Read more at DOE/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
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