The Paris Agreement and the Regulation of International Bunker Fuels

• Author: Beatriz Martinez Romera
• Published date: 01 July 2016
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/reel.12170
• Date: 01 July 2016

The Paris Agreement and the Regulation of

International Bunker Fuels

Beatriz Martinez Romera*

In 1992, the United Nations Framework Convention

on Climate Change called for all sectors of the global

economy, including transport, to contribute to the

stabilization of greenhouse gas emissions. However,

f‌ive years later, international aviation and maritime

transport were explicitly excluded from the Kyoto

Protocol’s scope and have remained largely

untouched. The negotiations on the regulation of these

sectors’emissions under the United Nations climate

regime, the International Civil Aviation Organization

and the International Maritime Organization have

played the buck-passing game for over two decades.

In December 2015, the Paris Agreement was adopted

without a reference to international aviation and

maritime transport. Nevertheless, the Agreement is

not without consequences for the regulation of these

sectors. This article analyses the omission of the sec-

tors from the Paris Agreement and the potential indi-

rect effects of the Agreement in the regulation of

emissions from international aviation and maritime

transport. It argues that a multilateral regulatory

shift to other venues outside the climate regime, uni-

lateral measures and industry action will be further

stimulated as a result of the omission of both sectors

from the Paris Agreement.

INTRODUCTION

In 1992, the United Nations Framework Convention on

Climate Change (UNFCCC)

1

was adopted with the aim

of stabilizing greenhouse gas concentrations in the

atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous

interference with the climate system.

2

All sectors of the

economy were considered by the Convention, including

transport.

3

However, greenhouse gas emissions from

two bursting sectors of the global economy, interna-

tional aviation and maritime transport –also known as

international bunker fuels (IBFs)

4

–have remained

largely unregulated.

5

The global transport sector has grown rapidly over the

last 50 years,

6

accounting for 13% of all greenhouse gas

emissions in 2004.

7

Of this total, global aviation and

maritime transport account for 40% of all transport-

related emissions, with international maritime

transport emissions accounting for 83% of all shipping

emissions and international f‌lights responsible for 62%

of all aviation emissions.

8

Greenhouse gas emissions

from international aviation and international maritime

transport account for around 5% of the global total

emissions but emissions growth rates since 1990 for

both sectors have increased above the global average,

9

and they are projected to grow exponentially in the

twenty-f‌irst century due to increasing demand.

10

* Corresponding author.

Email: beatriz.martinez.romera@jur.ku.dk

1

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (New

York, 9 May 1992; in force 21 March 1994) (‘UNFCCC’).

2

Ibid., Article 2.

3

Ibid., Article 4.1(c).

4

The term ‘international bunker fuels’ is used in the climate context

when referring to the fuel used for international aviation and interna-

tional maritime transport. Although it has not been def‌ined by the

UNFCCC, the term is taken from the Intergovernmental Panel on

Climate Change’s (IPCC) greenhouse gas inventory guidelines, which

were adopted by the UNFCCC’s Conference of the Parties. See

D. Blobel et al.,United Nations Framework Convention on Climate

Change: Handbook (UNFCCC Secretariat, 2006), at 186.

5

Emissions from IBF remain, de facto, unregulated. The European

Union (EU) included aviation in its European emissions trading sys-

tem, which regulates part of international aviation emissions; however,

there is currently a moratorium in place to delay enforcement for non-

EU f‌lights until the next Assembly of the International Civil Aviation

Organization (ICAO), to be held in late 2016.

6

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD),

Globalization, Transport and the Environment (OECD, 2010), at 14.

7

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Climate

Change 2007: Synthesis Report. Contribution of Working Groups I, II

and III to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental

Panel on Climate Change (Cambridge University Press, 2007), at 25.

8

D.S. Lee et al., ‘Shipping and Aviation Emissions in the Context of a

2°C Emission Pathway’ (Manchester Metropolitan University, 2013).

9

T. Barker et al., ‘Technical Summary’, in: B. Metz et al. (eds.), Cli-

mate Change 2007: Mitigation of Climate Change. Contribution of

Working Group III to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergov-

ernmental Panel on Climate Change (Cambridge University Press,

2007), 25; see also S. Kahn Ribeiro et al., ‘Transport and its Infra-

structure’, in: B. Metz et al., ibid., 323; and R. Sims et al., ‘Transport’,

in: O. Edenhofer et al. (eds.), Climate Change 2014: Mitigation of Cli-

mate Change. Contribution of Working Group III to the Fifth Assess-

ment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

(Cambridge University Press, 2014), 599; A. Bows-Larkin, ‘All Adrift:

Aviation, Shipping, and Climate Change Policy’, 15:6 Climate Policy

(2015), 681.

10

International Energy Agency (IEA), CO

2

Emissions from Fuel Com-

bustion –Highlights (IEA, 2012), at 11.

ª2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA.

215

RECIEL 25 (2) 2016. ISSN 2050-0386 DOI: 10.1111/reel.12170

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