International Law-Making: Actors in Shipping and Climate Change - InterAct
Name of applicant
Beatriz Martinez Romera
Institution
University of Copenhagen
Amount
DKK 4,486,646
Year
2020
Type of grant
Semper Ardens: Accelerate
What?
InterAct aims to provide an account of the actors involved in the international law-making processes addressing climate change impacts of shipping, elucidating about their role and the incentives, barriers, interactions and synergies for sustainable shipping. InterAct will contribute to new academic insights into the theory of actors in international law and law-making, while providing an understanding and a way forward to address maritime transport climate-related impacts.
Why?
If they could be accounted as a country, greenhouse gas emissions from maritime transport would be one of the top ten world largest emitters. Moreover, shipping emissions are forecasted to increase 50%-250% by 2050 and the contribution of shipping to climate change will further intensify, as routes in the Arctic become available. In spite of this, shipping remains largely unregulated, being the last sector of the economy to contribute to climate change mitigation targets in line with the Paris Agreement. In understanding this anomaly, the literature has looked into different aspects and dynamics of the regulation of shipping, but a key component has lingered unexplored, namely, the role of different actors in climate-related law-making for the sector, which InterAct will explore.
How?
InterAct's main objective will be addressed through two sub-projects, which deal with two convergent objectives: 1) Understanding the role of actors in law-making processes regarding market-based measures and technology and energy transition for international maritime transport: and 2) Understanding the role of actors in the regulation of shipping induced climate change in the Arctic (Sub-project 2). InterAct adopts the use of research methodologies (semi-structured interviews and surveys to relevant actors) beyond the traditional legal method, which will be also complemented with insights from other disciplines to contextualize the legal research. The project covers a period of three years from 1st September 2021 to 31st August 2024.