Norway’s fjords are one of the world’s top cruise destinations but within three years any liner using marine diesel will be banned as the country seeks to reduce emissions and pollution
Norway is serious about environmental protection in the UNESCO World Heritage Sites Geirangerfjord and Næroyfjord. Norway’s parliament is setting an example. From 2026, only emission-free ships will be allowed to call at the two fjords.
The fjords attract hundreds of thousands of tourists each year, most of them on cruise ships that burn heavy bunker oil, some of the dirtiest fuel there is. That’s a problem. Cruise ships today are self-contained floating cities. They generate their own electricity, have kitchens that feed up to 5,000 people three times a day, and have their own desalinization equipment and wastewater treatment systems on board — all of it powered by diesel fuel.
The parliamentary resolution obliges shipping companies to only enter the World Heritage waters with emission-free ships from 2026. That doesn’t mean that cruise lines can sit back and relax until 2026. The shipping companies are obliged to adapt the pollutant emissions of the ships entering the Geiranger and Næroyfjord to the environmental conditions. The law aims to reduce CO2 emissions in Norway by 2030 percent by 40.
Cleantechnica.com reported: “In 2017, Carnival, the world’s largest luxury cruise operator, emitted nearly 10 times more sulfur oxide along the coasts of Europe than all 260 million million cars on the Continent. Royal Caribbean, the world’s second largest cruise line, was second with four times the sulfur emissions of the European car fleet. SOx emissions form sulphate (SO4) aerosols that increase human health risks and contribute to acidification in terrestrial and aquatic environments.”
