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Shipping and aviation are the only industry sectors that are not regulated by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change 1997 ("UNFCCC") or the Kyoto Protocol, an agreement linked to the UNFCCC, which set binding targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions on those countries that have ratified the Protocol.
Whilst shipping, with relatively low CO2 emissions, is the most energy-efficient means of mass transportation, the global trend towards reducing emissions from all industry sectors (as well as the anticipated future growth of the shipping industry) has led to recent calls to improve energy efficiency and control emissions in international shipping. 2011 became the year that welcomed a number of initiatives and working groups aimed at reducing ships' carbon emissions and increasing the sustainability and green credentials of the industry as a whole.
Some major players in the shipping industry have already taken the initiative in switching to low sulphur fuel and investing in finding alternative sources of "green" fuel. It has recently been reported in the press that one of the world's biggest shipping companies, as well as the US navy, have been testing algal oil, derived from genetically modified algae, as a substitute for conventional bunker fuel. In addition, fifteen of the industry's biggest operators have endorsed a Sustainable Shipping Initiative, designed to pioneer energy-efficient vessels and make greater use of renewable energy. Nonetheless, the shipping industry is coming under considerable pressure to reduce emissions as a result of a number of regulatory developments, both domestic and international.
In this article we give a brief overview of the ongoing UNFCCC measures to reduce global emissions. We then summarise some of the principal current initiatives, both internationally and within the UK, to reduce emissions from the shipping industry.
UNFCCC and Kyoto Protocol
The primary distinction between the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol is that, whilst the UNFCCC does not lay down legally binding commitments for its signatories to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions (it merely encourages them to do so), the Kyoto Protocol commits those countries that ratify it to doing so. Not all signatories to the UNFCCC have also ratified the Kyoto Protocol - the United States is an example.
One impact of the Kyoto Protocol was to set reductions in recorded emissions amounting to an 8% decrease from 1990 levels over the five-year period from 2008 to 2012. There was an expectation that the Kyoto Protocol (or its successor) would be extended to the shipping industry at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December 2009, but the Accord reached by the participants at that Conference was silent on the reduction of emissions from international shipping.
Complete Paper can be found at"
http://www.safety4sea.com/analysis/89/134/reducing-shipping-emissions-?goback=.gmp_1936385.gde_1936385_member_109809690
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