The Unsung Risks of Maritime Emissions

The news changes so quickly that sometimes it's difficult to figure out what you should be most worried about. Most of us are aware of the threat that commercial aviation poses to global climate change, pumping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere at levels that represent about 2 percent of the global total.

But, when was the last time you heard anyone express concern emissions from the maritime shipping industry, which burns about 200-million tons of fuel a year, representing around 4 percent of the global total.

As discussed in this Guardian Unlimited story, the threat is real and growing.

Carbon dioxide emissions from ships do not come under the Kyoto agreement or any proposed European legislation and few studies have been made of them, even though they are set to increase.

Sometimes it's the things you're not worried about that get you.