Sustainable Shipping in Changing Climates

Dear Colleagues,

The globalised nature of modern economies unescapably links economic development to shipping. In the past half a century, the quantity of material traded and increased several-fold with a comparable increase in the emissions associated international shipping. Despite being the most carbon efficient form of long-distance freight transit, at an absolute level, sectoral emissions are on a scale with national emissions. However, within recent decades, progress has been made, demonstrated by regulation of sulphur fuel content, adoption of energy efficiency indices for design and operation and development of sectoral decarbonisation roadmaps. As the global economy prepares for COP26 and reviews progress against Paris Climate, this is an opportune time to take stock of the challenges that the sector still has to face, and opportunities available to transition the sector along a low carbon future. Additionally, responding to climate impact and mitigations may well have a pronounced impact on the current character of global trade as some commodities and trade routes become constrained and others emerge.

The focus of this issue is to examine the capacity of the sector to respond to climate change in terms of both emission mitigation and impact adaptation. The scope of this issue covers all aspects of demand and supply for shipping, from trade to maritime technology and fuel provision. The main purpose of this issue is to identify the limits and barriers to an effective climate response by the sector, especially within the context of a post Paris framing.

This Special Issue will help to reinforce the systemic nature of the sector through highlighting the need for integration of demand and supply based measures as well as managing trade-offs between progress in different aspects, particularly where they relate to climate and wider environmental performance.

Dr. Conor Walsh
Guest Editor

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• shipping
• climate
• trade
• mitigation
• adaptation