Decarbonisation of International Shipping: How to Achieve the IMO’s GHG Goals?

Dear Colleagues,

In April 2018, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) adopted an ambitious resolution for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) from international shipping. The sector shall reduce its carbon intensity per transport work by 40% and 70% by 2030 and 2050, respectively (relative to 2008). It shall also aim to halve GHG emissions by 2050 (relative to 2008), and “…phase them out as soon as possible in this century” (IMO 2018).

The achievement of these goals represents a major challenge for international shipping.  Few shipping companies have publicly voiced their aspirations for carbon neutrality (Maersk 2019), and the shipping industry is struggling in its efforts to adapt to the IMO GHG goals (DNV GL 2018; ICS 2019, BIMCO 2019). Common business practices, widely-used marine technologies, and entrenched operational routines are inconsistent with achieving the IMO’s GHG goals. Ample research has documented that novel corporate, technological, and regulatory responses will be required to decarbonize shipping (Bouman et al. 2017; Psaraftis 2018; Traut et al. 2019; Cariou et al. 2019; Balcombe et al. 2019), and, given the long life spans of ships, answers are urgently required (Bows-Larkin 2015).

Academic studies hold the potential to provide such answers, and the literature is indeed flourishing—researchers have proposed several alternative fuels, including biofuels (Bengtsson et al. 2012), batteries (Lindstad et al. 2017), wind propulsion (Rojon and Dieperink 2014, Rehmatulla et al. 2017; Gilbert et al. 2018), and nuclear power (Schøyen and Steger-Jensen 2017), and they have started to investigate the drivers for energy transitions in the context of shipping (Geels 2002; Geels 2012; Mander 2017). New regulatory measures are also subject to intense academic discussions in the maritime research community. These include market-based measures such as a global fuel tax and emission trading schemes (Psaraftis 2012; van Leeuwen and van Koppen 2016; Kosmas and Acciaro 2017), as well as command-and-control measures, such as the mandatory Ship Energy Efficiency Management Plan (Poulsen and Johnson 2016), a tightened Energy Efficiency Design Index (Devanney 2011), and speed limits (Psaraftis 2019). Within environmental governance, new mechanisms that combine public and private authority in international shipping in novel ways so as to facilitate decarbonization are also starting to attract attention (Wuisan et al. 2012; van Lister et al. 2015; Poulsen et al. 2016; Poulsen et al. 2018).

The technical sciences’ disciplines of naval architecture and life-cycle assessments hold promises to deliver important inputs to the ongoing discussions, as do the social science disciplines of economics, management, governance, political economy, law, and sociology. However, no single discipline can provide convincing answers alone. The nature of the challenge is such that interdisciplinary studies are highly required.

With this call for a Special Issue of Sustainability on the IMO’s GHG goals, we ask the question of how to decarbonize international shipping.

We encourage scholars for a wide range of disciplines within the social and technical sciences, and interdisciplinary research teams in particular, to contribute with papers to this Special Issue of Sustainability. Papers may focus on radical changes (such as alternative fuel, new business models or policy innovations), and papers that address the potential for incremental improvements (such as energy efficiency enhancements) are equally welcomed. Papers with a strong empirical basis and direct implications for policy makers and shipping industry practitioners will be preferred.

(Some relevant) references

Balcombe, P., Brierley, J., Lewis, C., Skatvedt, L., Speirs, J., Hawkes, A., & Staffell, I. (2019). How to decarbonise international shipping: Options for fuels, technologies and policies. Energy Conversion and Management, 182, 72-88.

Bengtsson, S., Fridell, E., & Andersson, K. (2012). Environmental assessment of two pathways towards the use of biofuels in shipping. Energy Policy, 44, 451-463.

BIMCO (2019). Greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions, Bagsvaerd: BIMCO, https://www.bimco.org/about-us-and-our-members/bimco-statements/04-greenhouse-gases-ghg-emissions, accessed on April 25.

Bouman, E. A., Lindstad, E., Rialland, A. I., & Strømman, A. H. (2017). State-of-the-art technologies, measures, and potential for reducing GHG emissions from shipping–a review. Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment, 52, 408-421.

Bows-Larkin, A. (2015). All adrift: aviation, shipping, and climate change policy. Climate Policy, 15(6), 681-702.

Cariou, P. (2011). Is slow steaming a sustainable means of reducing CO2 emissions from container shipping?. Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment, 16(3), 260-264.

Cariou, P., Parola, F., & Nottemboom, T. (2019). Towards low carbon global supply chains: A multi-trade analysis of CO2 emission reductions in container shipping. International Journal of Production Economics, 208, 17-28.

Devanney, J. (2011). The impact of the energy efficiency design index on very large crude carrier design and CO2 emissions. Ships and Offshore Structures, 6(4), 355-368.

DNV GL (2017). Low Carbon Shipping Towards 2050, Hovik: DNV GL.

Geels, F. W. (2002). Technological transitions as evolutionary reconfiguration processes: a multi-level perspective and a case-study. Research Policy, 31(8-9), 1257-1274.

Geels, F. W. (2012). A socio-technical analysis of low-carbon transitions: introducing the multi-level perspective into transport studies. Journal of Transport Geography, 24, 471-482.

Gilbert, P., Walsh, C., Traut, M., Kesieme, U., Pazouki, K., & Murphy, A. (2018). Assessment of full life-cycle air emissions of alternative shipping fuels. Journal of Cleaner Production, 172, 855-866.

ICS (2019). Reducing CO2: A ‘Paris Agreement for Shipping’, London: International Chamber of Shipping, http://www.ics-shipping.org/docs/default-source/key-issues-2018/reducing-co2---a-paris-agreement-for-shipping.pdf?sfvrsn=2, accessed on April 25.

IMO (2018). Initial IMO Strategy on Reduction of GHG Emissions from Ships: Resolution Mepc.304(72), London: IMO.

Kosmas, V., & Acciaro, M. (2017). Bunker levy schemes for greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction in international shipping. Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment, 57, 195-206.

Lindstad, H. E., Eskeland, G. S., & Rialland, A. (2017). Batteries in Offshore Support Vessels – Pollution, Climate Impact and Economics. Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment, 50, 409-417.

Lister, J., Poulsen, R. T., & Ponte, S. (2015). Orchestrating transnational environmental governance in maritime shipping. Global Environmental Change, 34, 185-195.

Maersk (2018). Maersk Sets Net Zero CO2 Emission Target by 2050, Press release, December 4th, Copenhagen: A.P. Moller-Maersk. 

Mander, S. (2017). Slow steaming and a new dawn for wind propulsion: A multi-level analysis of two low carbon shipping transitions. Marine Policy, 75, 210-216.

Psaraftis, H. N. (2012). Market-based measures for greenhouse gas emissions from ships: a review. WMU Journal of Maritime Affairs, 11(2), 211-232.

Psaraftis, H. N. (2018). Decarbonization of maritime transport: to be or not to be?. Maritime Economics & Logistics, 1-19.

Psaraftis. H. N. (2019). Speed Optimization vs Speed Reduction: the Choice between Speed Limits and a Bunker Levy. Sustainability, 11(8), 2249.

Poulsen, R. T., Ponte, S., & Lister, J. (2016). Buyer-driven greening? Cargo-owners and environmental upgrading in maritime shipping. Geoforum, 68, 57-68.

Poulsen, R. T., & Johnson, H. (2016). The logic of business vs. the logic of energy management practice: understanding the choices and effects of energy consumption monitoring systems in shipping companies. Journal of Cleaner Production, 112, 3785-3797.

Poulsen, R. T., Ponte, S., & Sornn-Friese, H. (2018). Environmental upgrading in global value chains: The potential and limitations of ports in the greening of maritime transport. Geoforum, 89, 83-95. Rehmatulla, N., & Smith, T. (2015). Barriers to energy efficiency in shipping: A triangulated approach to investigate the principal agent problem. Energy Policy, 84, 44-57. Rehmatulla, N., Parker, S., Smith, T., & Stulgis, V. (2017). Wind technologies: Opportunities and barriers to a low carbon shipping industry. Marine Policy, 75, 217-226.

Rojon, I., & Dieperink, C. (2014). Blowin'in the wind? Drivers and barriers for the uptake of wind propulsion in international shipping. Energy Policy, 67, 394-402.

Schøyen, H., & Steger-Jensen, K. (2017). Nuclear propulsion in ocean merchant shipping: The role of historical experiments to gain insight into possible future applications. Journal of Cleaner Production, 169, 152-160.

Traut, M., Larkin, A., Anderson, K., McGlade, C., Sharmina, M., & Smith, T. (2018). CO2 abatement goals for international shipping. Climate Policy, 18(8), 1066-1075.

Van Leeuwen, J., & van Koppen, C. S. A. (2016). Moving Sustainable Shipping Forward: The Potential of Market-based Mechanisms to Reduce CO2 Emissions from Shipping. Journal of Sustainable Mobility, 3(2), 42-66.

Wuisan, L., van Leeuwen, J., & van Koppen, C. K. (2012). Greening international shipping through private governance: A case study of the Clean Shipping Project. Marine Policy, 36(1), 165-173.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. René Taudal Poulsen
Prof. Dr. Harilaos N. Psaraftis
Prof. Dr. Pierre Cariou
Guest Editors

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• International shipping
• Decarbonization
• Greenhouse gas abatement
• Energy transitions
• Alternative fuels
• Environmental governance
• Energy efficiency