Cruise ships are getting larger and emissions are growing says new report

There is a new report on Cruise ship emissions. Cruise ships are getting larger and more numerous. This is a problem for the environment, according to Transport NGO Transport and Environment.

They argue that the cruise ship sector:

• The world’s biggest cruise ships are now twice as big as they were in 2000
• At the current rate of growth, the biggest cruise ships in 2050 could become almost eight times bigger than the Titanic and carry nearly 11,000 passengers
• Twentyfold increase in the number of cruise ships from only 21 in 1970 to 515 today
• Cruise ship CO2 emissions were already nearly 20% higher in 2022 than in 2019 before the pandemic
• Cruise ships are currently exempt from fuel duties as well as most corporate and consumer taxes. A €50 tax on a typical cruise journey ticket would bring in €1.6 billion globally, €410 million of which would be raised in Europe.

The report makes the following recommendations:

To accelerate cruise ship decarbonisation and contribution to the EU’s and global climate goals, T&E makes the following policy recommendations:

1. Put cruise ships at the forefront of shipping decarbonisation by introducing faster and more stringent climate requirements compared to the rest of the fleet, such as earlier life-cycle decarbonisation deadline, connection to shore-side electricity at anchorage and a larger share of e-fuels to be used onboard cruise ships. Cruise ships spend considerably more time in ports than other ship types and cause immediate health risks to the human population and nature. Considering their luxury status and extensive greenwashing practices, cruise companies should be required to lead shipping’s decarbonisation efforts and deliver on their green claims.
2. Explore implementing a tax on cruise tickets to raise additional climate finance without burdening the general public. Cruises are a luxury form of entertainment currently exempt from many corporate and consumer taxes applied to other transportation modes. Such a tax would generate billions in revenues globally that could be used to facilitate energy transition, especially in developing and least developed countries.
3. Limit cruise ship traffic in areas vulnerable to marine and air pollution and establish no-cruise zones in the most fragile sites. Where cruise traffic remains permissible, only ships meeting the highest environmental standards and appropriate size should be allowed to operate.
4. Ensure transparency and reduce cruise greenwashing by requiring full disclosure of emissions from cruise ships, verified and accessible through public databases. This would help debunk cruise greenwashing claims and educate the consumers by, for example, showing the negative climate impact of fossil LNG.
5. Address methane emissions from cruise ships by ensuring that the EU legislation correctly reflects the level of methane slippage. This can be done by revising the methane slip factor set by the FuelEU Maritime Regulation to represent the real level of methane emissions that slip from the LNG engines.

Cruise ships’ emissions and impact on global warming is increasing

As a result of the ever-growing cruise ship fleet, the industry’s harmful emissions are also increasing. T&E’s 2023 cruise ship emission analysis found that between 2019 and 2022, pollutants such as sulphur oxides (SOX), nitrogen oxides (NOX), and fine particles (PM2.5) have increased by 9%, 18% and 25%, respectively, around European ports, affecting the health of millions of people and other living beings. The absolute amount of CO2 emissions in the European Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) grew by 17%, reaching 8.1 MtCO2. This is the equivalent in CO2 emissions of 50,000 flights between Paris and New York.9 Emissions of other potent global warming agents - methane and black carbon - also grew.

Finally, many cruise passengers fly to their departure destinations, adding even more emissions, which we have not accounted for in our calculations due to the lack of publicly available data.

Even the most efficient cruise ships will emit more carbon dioxide per passenger kilometre (CO2/pax-km) than a passenger aircraft. If we compare a 5-day cruise with the same distance travelled by airplane plus hotel costs for the same period, the amount of CO2 per cruise passenger would be twice as large.11

Therefore, as cruise ships have been successfully growing in number and size, accommodating more passengers and entertainment activities, their absolute negative climate impact also continues to increase.

So What Can Australia Do?

This is a niche area for Australia with Cruise Lines being headquartered overseas. But certainly advocacy at the International Maritime Organisation level could be done. 

Australia could also ensure connection to shore-side electricity at anchorage is in place in all Australian ports.

Being ready to supply low carbon e-fuels in port would assist transition of cruise ship away from fossil fuels.

References

Transport and Environment, 12 August 2024, Briefing Note: “Cruisezillas”: How much bigger can cruise ships get? https://www.transportenvironment.org/articles/cruisezillas-how-much-bigger-can-cruise-ships-get PDF: https://www.transportenvironment.org/uploads/files/2024-08_Cruisezilla_FINAL.docx-3.pdf