EU emissions trading for international shipping: a legal-interdisciplinary analysis
This dissertation examines the EU’s extension of emissions trading to maritime transport: the first system to charge a price on greenhouse gas emissions from international shipping. It evaluates the policy using a novel framework of criteria derived directly from the objectives stated in the legislation. The analysis shows how the policy’s effectiveness depends on balancing trade-offs between pursued goals while addressing key challenges, including constraints under international law, the risk of ships avoiding the system, fairness concerns, and the need to achieve coherence with other policies. The study concludes that the success of EU maritime emissions trading ultimately rests on its ability to reconcile environmental effectiveness with legal, economic, and equity considerations within a fragmented global policy landscape for decarbonizing shipping.