Billowing as much as 5 tons of sulfur pollution annually, 16 of the world's largest ships can create as much pollution as every car on earth.
Auto owners can feel a bit less guilty about contributing to the world’s pollution levels after some shocking statistics were released showing that just 16 of the wold’s largest ships are capable of producing as much harmful sulfur pollution as every car on earth combined. Most tankers run on an incredibly dirty, tar like, high-sulfur fuel called “marine” or “bunker fuel.”
The IMO (International Maritime Organization) created a policy agreed to by 169 countries over the past 31 years which currently allows ships to create 4,500 times more pollution than automobiles and permits the largest ships to pump as much as 5,000 tons of sulfur into the air yearly – compare this to the roughly 100 grams of sulfur pollution created by the average automobile.
Thankfully, the IMO intends to lower the hazardous sulfur levels to 3.5 percent (from the current policy allowing up to 4.5) by 2012 and eventually lower these levels to .05. This comes as especially good news, since at the current pollution levels, research suggests that as many as 64,00 people are dying yearly around the globe.