Climate and Environmental Protection - Decreasing Fuel Consumption and Exhaust Gas Emissions in Transportation - page 235

15.6.3 Recycling of Ships
An agreement for safe and environmentally friendly recycling of ships has a lot of
unanswered questions. Ships from member states will only be allowed to be
scrapped if basic environmental and climate protection rules are in force. Cur-
rently, there are only some countries which have specialized reglementations in
cutting up ships. Similar to aviation, the environment and ecology need common
legislation for the recycling of ships.
Steel plays an important role in maritime shipping. Steel is the most important
construction material and it is particularly close to nature. No other material has
such a closed circuit and can be recycled so often without losing its quality. In the
long run, the demand for new steel types remains high. Annual steel consumption
will probably increase by 40% within the next 10 years. This tendency will
determine recycling technology in future ships [ 44 ].
15.7 Summary and Recommendations: Climate Protection
in Transportation
The amount of CO 2 emitted from all means of transportation depends on the type
of fuel. Certain fossil fuels contain more carbon per energy output than biogenic
and synthetic fuels and hence produce more CO 2 emissions per unit of work done.
Although future scenarios contain positive assumptions about biogenic and
synthetic fuel use, the market penetration of individual fuels shows the leading role
of fossil fuels between 2020 and 2050:
• Petroleum or gasoline will remain the most important energy source supplying
from 16 to 28% of the world's primary energy demand; and
• Mineral oil and natural gas products as fuels will contribute to the transportation
from 57 to 82%.
The Kyoto Protocol, Annex I, Article 2.2 made requirements for the reduction
of the emissions of climate gases in 1997. Members of the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), a sub-group of the UN,
take the necessary actions in two ways:
• Controlling emissions in national regulations. The precise accounting of fuel
consumption is a good indicator of the real activity; and
• Setting targets for all sectors of transportation and developing global and
regional policies within a limited time according to the UNFCCC review.