Measuring, monitoring, reporting and verification of shipping emissions: Evaluating transparency and answerability

Abstract

In October 2016, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) adopted mandatory fuel data reporting requirements by amending Annex VI of the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships. Before the adoption of the IMO Data Collection System (IMO DCS), the European Union (EU) introduced a regulation requiring monitoring, reporting and verification of greenhouse gas emissions from ships as an initial step to inform further action. This regulation enabled the EU to include greenhouse gas emissions from shipping as a part of their collective climate change strategy, known as the EU MRV system. This article analyses the EU MRV system and the IMO DCS against standards of transparency and answerability. It argues that whilst neither the EU MRV system nor the IMO DCS promotes optimal transparency or answerability, the EU MRV represents a framework that comes closer to promoting answerability through transparency.

Towards the IMO’s GHG Goals: A Critical Overview of the Perspectives and Challenges of the Main Options for Decarbonizing International Shipping

“…The measurability issue also makes difficult assessing the technical possibility to achieve the ambitious IMO's goals [142]. Though several scholars seem to agree that halving shipping emissions by 2050 will require a consistent switch to non-fossil fuel sources [56], very few studies focus on the quantitative assessment of the technical possibility to reach the IMO's GHG targets by 2050.…”

The EU ETS Top Ten Polluters List as a Policy Tool of Climate Action Organisations

“…It shows that if the EU ETS would cover emissions of the shipping, the top polluters list in 2018 would include at least one company of the sector (Transport & Environment 2019). In this case, the NGO based on the EU ETS top ten list correctly points out a climate policy shortcoming (Deane et al 2019). It should be noted, that EC addresses this issue and extends the EU ETS to the maritime transport sector in June 2021 as part of Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy (European Commission 2020b).…”

Review of EU Maritime Transport Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction Policies: Better Prospects for Policy Makers in China?

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