Following the recent opening of the Maritime Conference, the ESG says it “believes more needs to be done” to lower air pollution.

A statement from the ESG follows below:

The ESG notes the recent opening of the Maritime Conference by Minister Daryanani. While much is made of the standards applied by the Port the group believes more needs to be done to lower the air pollution from this industry. We understand and appreciate the Minister’s promotion of more environmentally-friendly fuels, but in this COP 26 year, when the world in general is looking at ways to reduce our carbon footprint in every aspect of society and industry, it would have been more appropriate to have used the Conference as a platform to encourage better environmental standards in this industry. Perhaps even to tighten the emission regulations in our port and significantly increase the fines levied on polluting ships so that Gibraltar Port could be a leader in this aspect - that would be something to shout about and be proud of. 

Although the group welcomes the smoke regulations introduced in the past 12 months, it would also like to see this tightened further to result in wider enforcement and, ultimately, less pollution.