Skift Take
The cruise industry is compliant with International Maritime Organization pollution guidelines largely through the use of scrubber technology. But this week, critics are once again questioning whether scrubber technology should be allowed in the first place.
A new internal report from the International Maritime Organization has cast further doubt over the environmental safety of using exhaust gas cleaning systems — more commonly referred to as "scrubbers" — to reduce air pollution on cruise ships.
The International Maritime Organization, a United Nations body that regulates the cruise and shipping industries, convenes its pollution subcommittee in London this week to, among other items, discuss the further implementation of global anti-pollution regulation known as IMO 2020. As first covered by the UK's Guardian on Monday, the report suggests that the agency itself — which already green-lit scrubbers as a legitimate form of compliance for the rule — might have reason to doubt the environmental safety of the technology.
As Skift reported in October, much of the cruise industry opted to meet this year's new lower pollution standard with the use of scrubbers instead of switching to cleaner-burning, more expensive fuel. These systems "scrub" the smokestac
