The letter was sent to the ministers of the OSPAR Convention (Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic) ahead of their meeting on June 26.

Scrubbers are ship-based exhaust gas cleaning systems designed to reduce sulfur emissions generated by the combustion of marine fuel. Most scrubbers used in shipping today are open-loop systems, which discharge captured pollutants dissolved in water directly into the open sea. Along with these discharges, heavy metals, acidic compounds, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) enter the marine environment, posing threats to marine ecosystems and human health—particularly in coastal communities.

Scrubber discharges are especially hazardous in vulnerable regions such as the Arctic, where low temperatures and weak water circulation slow down the natural breakdown of pollutants.

As of today, 45 jurisdictions, including both entire countries and individual ports, have already taken measures to prohibit or restrict the discharge of scrubber waste. However, to achieve a significant impact on a global scale, more coordinated and prompt action is necessary. A ban on the discharge of toxic scrubber waste in the waters of the OSPAR Convention parties—which include 15 European countries (such as Norway, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, and several European Union member states), as well as the European Union itself—would not only align with the principles of both OSPAR and the United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC), but would also reflect the region’s active stance on protecting the ocean from pollution.

Bellona joins this letter and advocates for the swift restriction of the use of water-polluting scrubbers, which present a seemingly invisible but serious threat to marine ecosystems. Furthermore, it is important to emphasize that effective marine protection requires not workaround technical solutions that allow continued use of polluting hydrocarbon fuels, but a transition to clean fuels and the reduction of emissions at all stages of maritime logistics.

If a ban on the discharge of scrubber waste is incorporated into the national legislations of OSPAR member states, it would also make it possible to impose additional requirements on vessels under any jurisdiction that pass through the territorial waters and exclusive economic zones of the Convention’s participants. Vessels operated by Russian companies and departing from northern ports in a westward direction would not be exempt.

“Russia has not joined the International Maritime Organization’s agreement to ban the use and carriage of heavy fuel oil in the Arctic region, and in order to comply with sulfur emission requirements, Russian shipowners actively use scrubbers, although there is no detailed public data available on this,” says Ksenia Vakhrusheva, an expert with Bellona’s Arctic project. “In a situation where the Russian state shows no willingness to reduce the negative impact of maritime shipping, we welcome international mechanisms that can at least partially influence the emissions from vessels operated by Russian companies.”

The introduction of a ban on the discharge of toxic scrubber waste would help reduce ocean pollution, support the health of marine ecosystems, and accelerate the phase-out of heavy fuel oil (HFO)—one of the dirtiest types of liquid fossil fuel on the planet.

The full text of the letter (in English) can be read here.