The United Nations' shipping agency on Thursday set global regulations to limit the amount of sulphur emissions from vessels which will come into force from 2020.
A session of the International Maritime Organization's Marine Environment Protection Committee in London set the new regulations, which will see sulphur emissions fall from the current maximum of 3.5 percent of fuel content to 0.5 percent,
The shipping industry is by far the world's biggest emitter of sulphur, with the sulphur oxide content in heavy fuel oil up to 3,500 times higher than the latest European diesel standards for vehicles.
(Reporting by Jonathan Saul)