Cruise Ship Report Card Marks Massive Pollution, Constant Greenwashing from Cruise Industry

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Cruise Ship Report Card Marks Massive Pollution, Constant Greenwashing from Cruise Industry

November 25, 2024

WASHINGTON - Cruise ship pollution remains largely unaddressed across the global industry, according to Friends of the Earth's latest Cruise Ship Report Card. Friends of the Earth's analysis measured the impacts of 21 cruise lines in four categories: air pollution reduction, water quality and use of scrubbers, sewage treatment and transparency. Only eight cruise lines received a rating above a D+ based on four categories, with Hurtigruten, HX|Hurtigruten Expeditions, Disney and Regent ranking in the top five. The 2024 report card includes Dutch companies Hurtigruten and HX|Hurtigruten Expeditions for the first time.

Cruising remains one of the most harmful forms of travel to the environment and human health. Scientists estimate that the cruise industry discharges approximately 1.5 gigatons of toxic exhaust gas scrubber wastewater annually.

In recent years, cruise companies have implemented the use of liquefied natural gas to power new and bigger ships. LNG is a greenwashing fuel source that furthers the climate footprint of these behemoths, creating more air pollution rather than using safer and less polluting fuel sources. As a 2023 analysis from Friends of the Earth shows, the average vacationer increases their carbon footprint by eight times by stepping onto a cruise ship.

In the United States, US Environmental Protection Agency has failed to meaningfully monitor cruise industry violations, despite its own research showing that more than 1 billion gallons of sewage alone are dumped into the ocean by cruise ships each year. While hundreds of violations have been documented after the industry restarted cruise operations post-Covid - including toxic exhaust gas scrubber wastewater, fecal coliform bacteria and polluted graywater - EPA has done little to enforce documented violations of the federal Clean Water Act.

"It's time for cruise companies to cut the crap. We have waited long enough for governments to stop covering their eyes while the cruise industry saves a buck by dumping massive amounts of pollution into our oceans and air," said Marcie Keever, Oceans and Vessels Program Director for Friends of the Earth. "People and communities around the globe are stepping up to demand limits on cruise pollution and protect their health, yet the industry fights them over each new rule. By spending billions on greenwashing customers and opposing environmental regulations, the industry is eroding its own bottom line. It's time to read the writing in the sand and clean up their act."

Because the regulations governing cruise operations and shipping vessels fail to curb pollution or meaningfully punish bad actors, Friends of the Earth supports strengthening local and statewide regulations, including pushing for independent government regulators to help protect port communities from cruise pollution. From Alaska and Washington state to Virginia and Maine, monitoring cruise operations in ports on all US coasts could potentially prevent billions of harmful toxins from entering US waters and airsheds and threatening our ocean ecosystems.

Contact: Shaye Skiff, [email protected]

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