Ahead of the OSPAR Ministerial Meeting in Vigo on 26th June 2025, and following the UN Ocean Conference (UNOC) in Nice to advance Sustainable Development Goal 14 – to “conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources” – we urge you and fellow Environment Ministers to agree to decisive action by banning discharges of toxic waste water from the use of exhaust gas cleaning systems, also known as scrubbers, on ships.
Scrubbers, or Exhaust Gas Cleaning Systems, were introduced as an alternative compliance mechanism to help ships get around sulphur limits on maritime fuels and still meet the standards. While scrubbers reduce sulphur in exhaust gases, they increase emissions of carbon dioxide, particulate matter, and black carbon in the air. Even more alarmingly, they transfer pollution from air to sea when their discharge water is dumped into the ocean contaminated with toxic substances such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), heavy metals, nitrates, and acidic compounds. Moreover, scrubbers on ships have allowed the continued use of heavy fuel oil, one of the dirtiest liquid fossil fuels on the planet, delaying the transition of the shipping industry to cleaner alternatives.
The impacts on marine life are severe and risk entering the human food chain. Even at very low concentrations, the toxic waste from scrubbers has been shown to cause immune suppression, reproductive harm, and increased mortality in a range of species from plankton and corals, to fish and marine mammals. These pollutants also have the potential to disrupt entire ecosystems by altering pH levels in sensitive habitats, leading to acidification of the ocean, and can impact human food sources especially in coastal and seafood-dependent communities.
A growing number of countries and ports all across the world have already shown leadership and acted by banning scrubbers in their waters. It is now imperative that OSPAR Ministers follow. A ban across territorial waters in the OSPAR region including internal waters and port areas would be a decisive step towards protecting marine biodiversity and accelerating the shipping industry’s green transition. This will send a clear signal that OSPAR countries are increasingly supporting the shipping sector’s shift away from fossil fuels and toward clean, sustainable technologies.
Switching to widely available distillate fuels does not require excessive intervention and can significantly reduce environmental pollution. However, this won’t be enough to guarantee the protection of the oceans – renewable fuels and technologies will be essential. Truly green
maritime solutions such as shore-side electricity, wind propulsion, battery systems, zero emission fuels and solar technologies are already available and offer a pathway to real emissions reductions, cleaner air and water, and alignment with global climate and biodiversity goals.
As the 2025 political declaration of the UNOC states “The ocean is fundamental to life on our planet and to our future […]. The ocean and its ecosystems are adversely affected by climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution […]. We must act with urgency to face this challenge with bold, ambitious, just and transformative action.” To preserve this future, we call upon the OSPAR Ministers to adopt a ban on toxic waste water discharges from scrubbers installed on ships at the next Ministerial Meeting on 26th June 2025. By enacting this ban, OSPAR will reaffirm its commitment not only to ocean conservation, but to the protection of human health, livelihoods, and future generations.
Source: Seas at Risk, Clean Arctic Alliance