Governance for Sustainable Development: The Value of Environmental Regulations and the Effect of Maritime Norms

Abstract

This article examines an important area where environmental law and economics intersect and proposes a novel model to assess the economic value of environmental shipping regulations. The model is used to evaluate the effect that existing regulatory norms have on the value of shipping regulations. The norms considered include both legal arrangements established under the international law of the sea and those developed within the International Maritime Organization. These norms are found to be beneficial to the financial interests of the sector and to minimise implementation and enforcement costs. They are damaging to the environmental benefits of regulations because of exceptions granted to existing ships, prioritisation of the operational needs over environmental compliance, and the use of flag State certification as the primary method for controlling ships. The value model demonstrates that regulations targeting the most polluting ships, and selectively implemented, would be superior to the current uniform implementation approach.