Discerning sustainability approaches in shipping

Abstract

Sustainability should be the ultimate goal of human beings. Over the years, sustainability in shipping has attracted growing attention through the ways of green or sustainable shipping, just like sustainable development and green development being the prominent approaches to sustainability. However, the concepts of green or sustainable shipping, as well as that for green or sustainable development, remain vague. This paper, thus, distinguishes these four seemingly similar but essentially different concepts with respect to their theoretical bases, objectives, and implications through a structured literature review. Many have discussed the concept of sustainable development, while only a few explored that for green development, sustainable shipping, and green shipping. The main difference between sustainable and green development is whether it is anthropocentric: the former emphasizes satisfying the needs of the present and future generations, while the latter is non-anthropocentrism or eco-centrism, focuses on conserving nature health. We argue that green shipping should follow the concept of green development. It is a better approach to reach sustainability than sustainable shipping which follows sustainable development. Lastly, a definition of green shipping is proposed for decision makers' consideration towards sustainability.

Green Strategic Planning Approach for International Shipping Activities

“…To acknowledge the concept of green development as a sustainability approach, green shipping has been proposed, which is based on the concept of green development rather than sustainable development in theory [2]. Furthermore, the concept of green shipping as defined by Wu et al [2] provides a theoretical basis and objectives for green strategic planning in international shipping, which integrates a long-term goal, strategic decision-making, green development, and door-to-door services in order to actually achieve sustainability. Accordingly, door-to-door international shipping can be defined as an effort to generate strategies for door-to-door worldwide movements in accordance with the sustainability requirements, as below:…”

“…Sustainability has been viewed as a long-term and ultimate goal of human beings [1], and green development and sustainable development have been the two prominent approaches to sustainability [2]. The most commonly used sustainable development serves a human being's needs through human governance [3].…”

“…Sustainability considers eco-centrism to be its key pathway [7] and commits to the conservation of natural resources [4] because the natural ecosystem is fundamental to human existence [8]. In the meantime, green development has been theoretically based on non-anthropocentrism or eco-centrism and has been targeting nature conservation [2]. This point of view, which puts human beings as part of nature, has been proven to be a key to sustainability [7,9].…”

“…This point of view, which puts human beings as part of nature, has been proven to be a key to sustainability [7,9]. To achieve the sustainability goal and avoid the depletion of natural resources, we must place nature first [10], and work on the principles of "nature-center" and "maintenance of natural intrinsic value" following the green development approach [2].…”

“…IMO has very limited authority to force the implementation of the SDGs [18]. With sustainable development, the current sustainable shipping practices are also facing challenges in achieving sustainability due to human preferences [2,19].…”