Rich Kassel

This fact sheet is for stakeholders and other interested parties who wish to make a difference in helping to reduce air pollution from ports and shipping in China. Ports and shipping emissions are a major source of the deadly air pollution choking China, especially its densely populated coastal cities. The most harmful of these pollutants are diesel particulate matter, a known human carcinogen, and oxides of nitrogen (NOx), which are ozone (smog) precursors. Although ships carrying goods from… Show more

This fact sheet is for stakeholders and other interested parties who wish to make a difference in helping to reduce air pollution from ports and shipping in China. Ports and shipping emissions are a major source of the deadly air pollution choking China, especially its densely populated coastal cities. The most harmful of these pollutants are diesel particulate matter, a known human carcinogen, and oxides of nitrogen (NOx), which are ozone (smog) precursors. Although ships carrying goods from China must switch to clean fuel long before they reach U.S. ports, they switch back to bunker fuel – the world’s dirtiest transportation fuel – before returning to China. NRDC has been a pioneer in reducing port-related pollution and developing clean transportation in the U.S. and internationally. We are now working with local partners in southern China’s Pearl River Delta, the busiest port region in the world – to help develop and implement a plan for reducing air pollution from ports and shipping. Our long-term goal is to help establish a regional Emission Control Area (ECA) under international law. This plan would cut SO2 emissions from oceangoing vessels by 95% and particulate emissions by 85%, while reducing the number of avoidable deaths from shipping emissions by over 90%. This ECA would be the first in the developing world and could serve as a model for the rest of China and beyond. Show less