Decarbonizing the International Shipping Industry

Dear Colleagues,

International shipping, the most energy efficient mode of mass transport, is the backbone of global trade. According to the Third GHG Study 2020 by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of total shipping (international, domestic, and fishing) have increased from 977 million tonnes in 2012 to 1,076 million tonnes in 2018 (9.6% increase). It is estimated that emissions from the shipping industry could grow from about 90% of 2008 emissions in 2018 to 90–130% of 2008 emissions by 2050, mainly due to the growth of world maritime trade. Moreover, CO₂ emissions from international shipping cannot be attributed to any particular national economy due to its global nature and complex operation. Therefore, the IMO has been energetically engaged in a global effort to further improve ships’ energy efficiency and develop measures to reduce GHG emissions from ships, as well as to provide technical cooperation and capacity building activities. For example, in 2011, the IMO's Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) adopted a package of technical measures for new ships (e.g., Energy Efficiency Design Index) and operational reduction measures (e.g., Ship Energy Efficiency Plan) for all ships.

More recently, in June 2021, the MEPC adopted resolution MEPC.328(76), which contained amendments to MARPOL Annex VI concerning mandatory goal-based technical and operational measures to reduce the carbon intensity of international shipping. These amendments will enter into force on 1 November 2022. It is worth noting that binding international legal agreements to regulate GHGs are still evolving slowly, as technical solutions remain expensive, and crucial industrial support is absent. Thus, thoroughly reviewing and converging global efforts to mitigate shipping GHG emissions are of great importance.

The purposes of this Special Issue in Sustainability are to publish the state-of-the-art research on the effective solutions to reduce GHG emissions from ships on the environmental performances of different mitigation measures. We invite submissions that present original and high-quality research on decarbonizing the international shipping industry.

We will consider submissions that introduce new research problems and concepts, develop novel and rigorous methodologies to tackle problems, and present innovative applications. Papers may employ a range of research methods including, but not limited to, analytic modelling, theoretical investigation, data-driven methodologies, simulation, and case studies.

The scope of this Special Issue includes, but is not limited to, the following:

• Solutions to reducing shipping GHG emissions;
• Barriers to reducing GHG emissions in international shipping;
• Carriers' strategies to reduce GHG emissions;
• Economic analysis of carriers' strategies for decarbonization;
• International governance on shipping decarbonization;
• Data analysis to quantify the environmental and/or social benefits from decarbonization;
• Potential effects of shipping decarbonization;
• Policy recommendations for shipping decarbonization;
• Case studies of decarbonization in the maritime sector.

This issue will coincide with the IAME (International Association of Maritime Economist) annual conference 2022 in Jeju, Korea. Relevant special sessions will be held at the conference and the issue will carry revised and substantially extended versions of selected papers presented at the conference. We also encourage authors unable to participate in the conference to submit articles for this call.

Dr. Qiang Zhang
Prof. Dr. Kum Fai Yuen
Dr. Abdel El Makhloufi
Dr. Xiwen Bai
Guest Editors

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