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Shipping

International shipping is responsible for 3% of global GHG emissions. Ships departing U.S. ports are responsible for 4.8% of international shipping emissions. U.S. domestic shipping (ships traveling from one U.S. port to another U.S. port) is responsible for only 0.08% of U.S. domestic emissions. International shipping emissions are projected to increase between 50% and 250% by 2050. This means that, on a business-as-usual pathway, total international shipping emissions could reach 18% of global GHG emissions by 2050. Yet, the DDPP reports for the United States do not look closely at shipping. The four 2050 scenarios in the reports all show energy demand for domestic shipping reducing by two-fifths but without much detail on how these reductions are achieved. International shipping is not considered in the reports. The specialized United Nations body for international shipping, the International Maritime Organization (IMO), has estimated that design, operational, and alternative fuel measures could reduce international shipping emissions by 75% by 2050 and that innovative technologies could achieve even further reductions. The legal issues that arise when considering the decarbonization of shipping are mainly jurisdictional. There are three types of authority that countries can exercise over ships: flag (regulating ships that fly the country’s flag), coastal (regulating the ships that pass through a country’s coastal waters), and port (regulating ships that dock in that country’s ports). The chapter concludes that the latter, regulating the ships that dock in U.S. ports (referred to as port jurisdiction under international law), is the most appropriate for controlling GHG emissions.

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40 resources

Resource US Ports

Green Marine

Green Marine is North America’s largest voluntary environmental certification program for the maritime industry. Participants are shipowners, ports, terminals, Seaway corporations and shipyards. To re...
Model Law Congress

LPDD Model Law: Reduction of Arctic Shipping Emissions that Lead to Warming Act

As new shipping lanes emerge in the Arctic, concerns over the use of Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO) as a fuel source in Arctic waters compound — particularly insofar as HFO emissions cause local black carbon po...
Example Private Entities

Clean Shipping Index

The Clean Shipping Index is an independent labelling system of vessels’ environmental performance, providing a practical tool for differentiating port- and fairway fees or choosing more sustainable sh...
Resource Foreign

Report, Carbon Taxation for International Maritime Fuels

The IMF’s 2018 report, Carbon Taxation for International Maritime Fuels: Assessing the Options considers the carbon tax as a key element of GHG mitigation policy for international maritime transport. ...
Model Law Congress

LPDD Model Law: Arctic Shipping Tax Act

Unfortunately, thinning polar sea ice presents a significant commercial opportunity for the international shipping industry, as the opening of new Arctic routes has the potential to dramatically short...
Example US Ports

Port of Vancouver EcoAction Program

Under the Port of Vancouver EcoAction Program, vessels that have a Greenhouse Gas Emissions Rating of A, B or C are given harbour due rate discounts of up to 47%.
Resource Executive Branch

White House Ocean Climate Action Plan

In March 2023, the White House Ocean Policy Committee released an Ocean Climate Action Plan (OCAP). The plan sets three overall goals: creating a carbon-neutral future; accelerating nature-based solut...
Resource Private Entities

Poseidon Principles

The Poseidon Principles establish a global framework for assessing and disclosing the climate alignment of ship finance portfolios through four main principles: assessment, accountability, enforcement...
Example Foreign

EEDI Guidelines

Energy Efficiency Design Index requirements were made mandatory for new ships under MARPOL Annex VI, ch. 4. New ship design needs to meet the reference level, which will be tightened incrementally eve...
Resource US Ports

Report, Reducing Shipping Greenhouse Gas Emissions

The International Transport Forum’s 2018 report, Reducing Shipping Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Lessons From Port-Based Incentives, reviews port-based incentive schemes to reduce shipping emissions, such...
Example US Ports

Port of Los Angeles Voluntary Speed Reduction Program

The port of Los Angeles introduced voluntary speed reduction programs with the objective of reducing conventional air pollutants near the port. The program applies two different tiers of speed reducti...
Resource Foreign

Danish Shipping Fuel Tax Proposal

An international shipping fuel tax was introduced by Denmark in 2009, but it was not taken forward. Since that date, there have not been discussions around a fuel tax at the IMO level.
Example Private Entities

Maersk’s Zero Carbon Efforts

Maersk, which operates the world’s largest fleet of container ships, set itself a goal of reducing emissions by 60% by 2020 over a 2007 baseline. In 2018, they extended that goal to zero net operation...
Model Law Congress

LPDD Model Law: Amendments to Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships

Note: The proposed Ocean-Based Climate Solutions Act (2020), released just a month following the release of this model law, overlaps in scope with this model legislation, in terms of imposing monitori...
Resource US Ports

EPA National Port Strategy Assessment

EPA’s 2016 National Port Strategy Assessment assesses emissions reduction strategies, including from drayage trucks, fuel change strategies, shore power strategies, advanced marine emission control sy...
Example States and State Governments

California’s “At Berth” Regulation for Ports

In August 2020, the California Air Resources Board approved a new regulation designed to reduce pollution from ocean-going vessels while docked at California’s busiest ports. The rule builds on CARB’s...
Example US Ports

Port of San Diego Vessel Speed Reduction Program

The Vessel Speed Reduction Program is a voluntary program asking cargo vessel operators entering or leaving San Diego Bay to observe a 12-knot speed limit. For cruise ships, a 15-knot limit is request...
Example Private Entities

Clean Cargo Working Group

The Clean Cargo Working Group is a voluntary initiative of major brands, cargo carriers, and freight forwarders dedicated to reducing the environmental impacts of global goods transportation. Its memb...
Resource Congress

Proposed Ocean-Based Climate Solutions Act (2020)

Note: Elements of this proposed legislation overlap substantially with the LPDD Model Law, published Sept. 2020, Model Amendments to the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships, which would require all sh...
Resource US Ports

IMO Study of emission control and energy efficiency measures for ships in the port area

The IMO’s 2015 study was undertaken to investigate existing control measures to reduce emissions from ships in ports and identify possible future innovative measures to address such emissions.
Example Foreign

North American Emissions Control Area

The United States and Canada have jointly applied and been approved by the IMO for an emissions control area up to 200 miles off their casts, excluding Alaska and the Arctic. This requires ships passi...
Resource Executive Branch

US 2009 Ship Efficiency and Credit Trading Proposal

In 2009, the US made an IMO proposal calling to group ships of similar size together, then establish goals of specific improvement in the average efficiency of the world’s fleet for each class and siz...
Resource Private Entities

Report, The Promise and Limits of Private Standards in Reducing GHG Emissions from Shipping

This 2017 article in the Journal of Environmental Law examines private standards that aim to mitigate GHG emissions in shipping. These have emerged against a backdrop of regulatory inertia and the exc...
Resource Executive Branch

Report, The Challenge of Decarbonizing Heavy Transport

This 2020 report from the Brookings Institute outlines the technical challenges to decarbonizing heavy duty transport, including aviation and shipping. The report notes the differences between the rel...
Resource Foreign

IMO study, Third Greenhouse Gas Study

The International Marine Organization’s Third Greenhouse Gas Study (2014) captured an inventory of emissions from international shipping, and outlines emissions scenarios out to 2050.
Example States and State Governments

California’s Fuel Sulfur Rules

California’s initial attempt to require all ships calling at California ports to meet low-sulfur emissions standard were struck down. California modified the rules to set fuel requirements for the ves...
Resource Foreign

Report, Shipping and Aviation Emissions in the Context of a 2 Degree Emissions Pathway

Manchester Metropolitan University’s study concludes that, if the world were otherwise on a 2 degree pathway while shipping emissions maintained a business-as-usual trajectory, total shipping emission...
Example Foreign

Global Maritime Technology Network

The Global Maritime Technology Network project, funded by the European Union, has established a network of five Maritime Technology Cooperation Centres (MTCCs) in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Latin Am...
Example Foreign

SEEMP Guidelines

MARPOL’s Ship Energy Efficiency and Management Plan guidelines were made mandatory for all ships with the adoption on MEPC 203(62). The guidelines require that all ships of shipping companies develop ...
Resource Foreign

Report, Reducing CO2 Emissions to Zero

The International Chamber of Shipping’s 2018 report, Reducing CO2 Emissions to Zero: The ‘Paris Agreement for Shipping’, addresses the challenges in developing zero emission shipping fuels, emissions ...
Model Law Congress

LPDD Model Law: Reducing Black Carbon in Arctic Shipping

As new shipping lanes emerge in the Arctic, the potential harms attributable to black carbon emissions — which coats the surrounding ice surface black and accordingly increases the rate of heat absorp...
Example Foreign

GloMEEP Project

The Global Maritime Energy Efficiency Partnerships Project is aimed at supporting the uptake and implementation of energy efficiency measures for shipping. The GloMEEP project was launched in 2015 in ...
Resource US Ports

EDF’s Clean Air Guide for Ports and Terminals

EDF’s Clean Air Guide for Ports and Terminals surveys best practices to reduce emissions from freight transportation activities.
Resource Congress

CAA rules delegating shipping emissions authority to states

The Clean Air Act gives US states the right to draw up their own “in-use” rules on reducing greenhouse gases from international shipping. They may submit these rules for EPA approval, or enact them on...
Example Foreign

IMO DCS regulation

The IMO approved a Data Collection System regulation in 2017 (MEPC 292(71)) requiring all ships to report fuel consumption, distance, and time at sea, which would be disclosed publicly on an anonymize...
Resource Foreign

Report, Reducing CO2 and Other Emissions from Shipping

The House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee’s 2009 report, Reducing CO2 and Other Emissions from Shipping, examines UK efforts on three fronts: negotiations to tackle shipping emissions at an i...
Example US Ports

Port of Virginia Electrification

Virginia’s governor announced a plan to make all 160 yard tractors operating at the Port of Virginia’s six port facilities go electric. The Port of Virginia will use $14 million in VW Trust funds and ...
Example Foreign

Initial IMO Strategy on Reduction of GHG Emissions from Ships

The Initial IMO Strategy on Reduction of GHG Remissions from Ships (2018) envisages for a reduction in total GHG emissions from international shipping which, it says, should peak as soon as possible a...
Example Foreign

MARPOL Annex VI

The International Convention on the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL) entered into force in 1973 and has been amended to apply to GHGs. MARPOL rules apply to all ships flying flag of any cou...
Example US Ports

Port of Los Angeles Clean Truck Program

In 2008, the Port of Los Angeles banned pre-1989 trucks followed by a progressive ban on all trucks that did not meet 2007 emission standards by 2012. In 2018, only model year 2014 or newer were allow...