EU Court of Auditors report on “Seawater Quality’
04 March
On Tuesday 4 March, the European Court of Auditors (ECA) will publish a special report on EU actions intended to tackle sea pollution by ships.
About the topic
Seawater pollution by vessels has different causes, including oil spills. The United Nations (UN) estimated that over one million tonnes of oil end up in the sea as a result of vessels’ normal activities, and an additional 200 tonnes each year from incidents worldwide. Vessels might also release sewage/rubbish, hazardous/toxic substances, plastic, etc. Abandoned, lost or discarded fishing gear also has a major environmental impact.
The EU and its 22 coastal member states aim to protect the marine environment from ship-source pollution. The EU’s 8th environmental action programme contains a zero-pollution ambition for water by 2030. The EU is committed to UN Sustainable Development Goal 14.1 that aims to prevent and significantly reduce marine pollution of all kinds by 2025.
About the audit
The report assesses EU actions tackling ship-source pollution during the period from January 2014 to September 2024. The audit included visits to France and Germany that cover two marine subregions (the Greater North Sea and the Baltic Sea) representing the second busiest shipping lane worldwide, and two of the busiest European freight ports (Hamburg and Le Havre).
ECA press office will hold an online briefing on Tuesday 4 March. Journalists who wish to participate should contact press@eca.europa.eu for details. The report and press release will be published on the ECA website eca.europa.eu at 5:00 p.m. CET on Tuesday 4 March. The ECA member responsible for this report is Nikolaos Milionis.
The ECA’s special reports set out the results of its audits of EU policies and programmes or management topics related to specific budgetary areas. The ECA selects and designs these audit tasks to be of maximum impact by considering the risks to performance or compliance, the level of income or spending involved, forthcoming developments and political and public interest.