Pathways in the governance of shipping decarbonization from perspective of balancing the conflicting interests

Abstract

The shipping industry is featured by high carbon emissions. The 2023 IMO Strategy on Reduction of GHG Emissions from Ships sets forth the global goals of shipping decarbonization. Shipping decarbonization involves complicated issues of economy, technology, policy and law etc., and implies the conflicts between economic interests and environmental interests, between individual interests and public interests, between individual States’ interests and international common interests and between current interests and long-term interests. This research suggests that balancing such conflicting interests need to follow the principle of prioritizing the international public environmental interests while taking into account the other interests because protection of environmental interests should be taken as the basic value orientation in shipping decarbonization governance and the principle of collaborating governmental intervention and market mechanisms by reference to the theory on the relationship between government and market in economics. Under the guidance of these principle, by reference to the equilibrium analysis method in economics and following the progressive decision theory in management, this research demonstrates that the main pathways in achieving such balance may include: making strategic plan and basic policy for reducing GHG emissions from ships by the government, implementing economic incentive policies such as tax incentives and fiscal subsidies, implementing ship energy efficiency measures, prudently implementing shipping carbon emissions trading mechanism, accelerating the establishment of alternative marine fuel supply chain, innovating alternative marine fuel technology and ship propulsion technology, and actively engaging in international cooperation.