Air pollutants from shipping: Costs of NOx emissions to the Baltic Sea

Abstract

Despite a large body of literature on the calculations of costs of air emissions from shipping, calculations of damages to the marine water are missing. This paper calculated the costs of NO_x emissions from shipping entering an environmentally heterogeneous sea by applying the abatement cost approach. The total costs and unit shadow cost of NO_x were then calculated by means of the marginal abatement cost for international agreements on targets of nitrogen loads to the sea. This conceptual model highlighted the need to distinguish between direct emissions of NO_x on the sea and indirect emissions through deposition of emissions on land in the catchment with subsequent transportation into the sea. Calculated total cost amounted to 240 million euros, where indirect deposition accounted for 23% of the costs. The unit shadow costs ranged between 1.41 and 3.69 euros/kg NO_x-N depending on location of the vessel.

Keywords: Abatement cost approach; Baltic sea; Marine environmental damage; NO(x) emissions; Shadow pricing; Shipping.