Decarbonizing international shipping: An appraisal of the IMO's Initial Strategy

• Published date: 01 November 2019
• Date: 01 November 2019
• Author: Meinhard Doelle,Aldo Chircop
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/reel.12302

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  RECIEL. 2019;28:268–277.

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1 | INTRODUCTION

In April 2018, the I nternational Ma ritime Orga nization (IMO) ad‐

opted the ‘Init ial IMO Strateg y on Reduction of G HG [greenho use

gas] Emissions from Sh ips’, the first tan gible achieveme nt of the

roadmap it set for i tself in November 2016.1 It repre sents the IMO’s

initial contrib ution to the global goals se t out in the Paris Agree ment

adopted in Decem ber 2015 to respon d to climate change by mai n‐

taining globa l average temper ature increase to ‘ well below’ 2° C

above pre‐indust rial levels and to strive fo r 1.5°C.2 It seeks to t ackle

the GHG emissions of the international shipping industry, which are

comparable to Germany’s total emissions.3 International shipping

currently re presents just over 2 percent of glo bal emissions. Its

share would, howeve r, increase signif icantly if the industr y were to

continue to oper ate on a business‐as‐usual sce nario.4 The Initial IM O

Strategy repr esents a key milestone after a t wo‐decade‐long effor t

to agree on measur es to reduce GHG em issions from inter national

shipping unde r the United Natio ns (UN) climate regim e and the

IMO.5 It comes on t he heels of the Pa ris Agreeme nt on climate

change.

This article a ssesses the Initial IMO Str ategy in light of the long‐

term goals of the Par is Agreement, and consid ers its ambition, ade‐

quacy and ef fectiveness in ensuring a f air contribution to the glo bal

decarbonization effort.6 The art icle proceeds as follows. In Sec tion

2, we offer a brief hi story of efforts to re duce emissions from inter‐

national shippi ng under the UN climate regim e. This is followed by a

similar overvi ew of historical effort s under the IMO in Section 3 . In

Section 4, we dis cuss the key eleme nts of the 2018 IMO Stra tegy,

followed by an asses sment of its str engths and wea knesses in

Section 5. Thi s is followed by a brief explorat ion of opportunities to

1 IMO, ‘Initia l IMO Strategy o n Reduction of GH G Emissions fro m Ships’ MEPC

Resolutio n MEPC.304 (72) (13 April 2018) (In itial IMO Strate gy).

2 Paris Agre ement (adopted 1 2 December 2015, e ntered into forc e 4 November 2016) 55

ILM 74 0.

3 N Olmer et al, ‘G reenhouse Ga s Emissions from G lobal Shippi ng, 2013–2015’

(International Council on Clean Transportation 2017) iv.

4 T Smith et al, ‘ Third IMO Gree nhouse Gas Stud y 2014’ (IMO 2014) 20.

5 For a detaile d assessment of th e IMO’s regulato ry approach b efore the 2018 Stra tegy,

see B Martin ez Romera, Regi me Interaction a nd Climate Chan ge: The Case of Inte rnational

Aviation and Maritime Transport (Routledge 2017 ); Y Shi, Climate Change and International

Shipping: The Regulatory Framework for the Reduction of Greenhouse Gas Emissions (Brill

2017); and A Chir cop, ‘The Inter national Marit ime Law Respon se to Climate Chan ge: The

Quest for the Ship ping Industry ’s “Fair Share” of GHG Emission s Reduction’ in J Guifang

Xue and J Zheng (ed s), The Law of the Sea an d Emerging Issu es (China Demo cracy and

Legal System P ublishing Hou se 2017) 3.

6 A Chircop, M Doe lle and R Gauvin , ‘Shipping an d Climate Change : Internationa l Law and

Policy Considerations’ (Center for International Governance Innovation 2018).

Received: 23 Novem ber 2018 

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  Revised: 5 March 2019 

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  Accepted: 8 June 2019

DOI: 10 .1111/reel .12302

SPECIAL ISSUE ARTICLE

Decarbonizing international shipping: An appraisal of the IMO’s

Initial Strategy

Meinhard Doelle  | Aldo Chircop

© 2019 John Wiley & Sons Ltd, 9600 Garsi ngton Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main Stre et, Malden, MA 02148, USA.

Correspondence

Email: mdoelle@dal.ca In April 2018, the Intern ational Maritime Organizati on (IMO) adopted the ‘Initial IMO

Strategy on Reduc tion of GHG Emissions from Ships’, the first tang ible achievement

of the roadmap it set for it self in November 2016. This a rticle assesse s the IMO’s

Initial Strategy in l ight of the long‐term goals of the Par is Agreement on clim ate

change, and considers i ts ambition, ad equacy and eff ectiveness in ensu ring a fair

contribution to the gl obal decarbon ization effor t. The article of fers a brief histo ry

of efforts to re duce emissions from international shipping un der the United Nations

climate regime and the IM O. It then discusses the key el ements of the 2018 IMO

Strategy, followed by an assess ment of its strengths and weakne sses.