Climate Obligations for International Shipping

Abstract

This dissertation identifies climate obligations for the international shipping sector. If the sector were a country, it would be the eighth-largest source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the world. GHG emissions from shipping are regulated on a global level by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), a United Nations agency headquartered in London. Individual states also regulate the sector’s emissions in different ways. This dissertation examines what states and the IMO must do to reduce shipping’s climate pollution and how they can be held accountable.

It consists of four independent articles that examine a different aspect of climate obligations for shipping. The dissertation argues that the IMO legally committed itself to reducing GHG emissions from shipping consistent with the Paris Agreement’s global warming limitation goals. It finds that the IMO must implement GHG emission reductions in a way that gives preferences and transfers technology to small island developing states and least developed countries. It uses international environmental law principles to define shipping’s fair share of the overall mitigation burden as the sector’s highest possible ambition in light of its unique technological decarbonization capacity. Its further argues that states have a due diligence obligation to take all necessary measures to reduce shipping’s risk of climate harm; this obligation comes from customary environmental principles, human rights law, and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Necessary measures vary by state, and include supporting ambitious and effective action at the IMO and unilateral actions to regulate ships and shipping companies.