Greenland Parliament Backs Scrubber Discharge Ban for Ships in Its Waters

Greenland’s parliament has unanimously backed a phased ban on discharges from ships’ exhaust gas cleaning systems, adding another layer of environmental restrictions for vessels operating in Arctic waters and potentially affecting cruise operators using scrubbers to meet international emissions standards.

The Inatsisartut voted on Nov. 4 to direct the Greenlandic government to introduce the restrictions. Under the adopted proposal, discharges from open-loop scrubbers will be prohibited in Greenland’s ports, internal waters and territorial sea from July 1, 2027. From July 1, 2029, the prohibition will extend to all scrubber systems, including closed-loop installations.

The measure follows a proposal by parliamentarian Justus Hansen of the Demokraatit party. The government had proposed the phased timetable in line with an emerging regional approach under the OSPAR Convention, which covers the Northeast Atlantic.

Scrubbers, formally known as exhaust gas cleaning systems (EGCS), allow ships to continue burning higher-sulfur fuel by washing sulfur oxides from exhaust gases. Open-loop systems use seawater and discharge the resulting wastewater directly overboard, carrying sulfur compounds, heavy metals and other contaminants into the marine environment. Closed-loop systems recirculate the washwater but can also generate waste streams requiring disposal.

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