Cruise ships are notorious for their significant contribution to global pollution levels. Their engines run constantly, burning the dirtiest type of fuel and emitting huge amounts of harmful gases into our atmosphere.

Despite this, these emissions are overlooked in our global and local carbon accounting practices and from our climate targets. This omission allows cruise ship companies to continue their operations unchecked, without facing the necessary scrutiny or pressure to adopt cleaner technologies. It also unfairly penalises any cruise ships companies that want to do the right thing, by voluntarily changing when their competitors are not doing so yet.

One cruise ship's exhaust can emit as much cancerous small particulate matter as one million cars combined in a single day (Source: Stand Earth). They also contribute significantly to sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide levels - both harmful pollutants that have severe impacts on human health and our environment (Source: Transport & Environment).

Per person, a cruise ship holiday also emits 3-4 times the amount of greenhouse gases compared to the equivalent travel and holiday that utilises air travel instead. This means that cruise ships are a major climate issue!

This petition calls for the inclusion of international shipping and aviation, and particularly cruise ship emissions, into climate plans, targets, and accounting. By including and regulating these emissions we can ensure that these vessels are held accountable for their environmental impact and encourage them towards more sustainable practices.

This petition calls on cruise ship companies to do the responsible thing by asking the Christchurch City Council to include cruise ship emissions in their plans, targets, and accounting. We call on the Climate Commission and the New Zealand Government to also include these emissions in climate plans, targets, and accounting.

We will also present this petition directly to the Christchurch City Council and the cruise ship companies.