Mitigation of CO 2 emissions from international shipping through national allocation
Name
Selin_2021_Environ._Res._Lett._16_045009.pdf
Description
Published version
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1.52 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
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Author(s)
Selin, Henrik
Zhang, Yiqi
Dunn, Rebecca
Selin, Noelle E
Lau, Alexis KH
Date Issued
2021
Journal
Environmental Research Letters
Publisher
IOP Publishing
Citation
Selin, Henrik, Zhang, Yiqi, Dunn, Rebecca, Selin, Noelle E and Lau, Alexis KH. 2021. "Mitigation of CO 2 emissions from international shipping through national allocation." Environmental Research Letters, 16 (4).
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Abstract
Neither international treaties nor domestic policies control carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from international shipping. To enhance mitigation, a new multilateral mechanism could allocate these emissions to national carbon budgets, where different options could be used based on the location of industry actors and ships. We analyze five allocation options, showing that a clear majority of CO2 emissions would be distributed to ten countries under each option; however, the top ten countries vary across allocation options and the amount of CO2 emissions allotted to individual countries could increase their carbon budgets thousand-fold or more. We further examine how the different objectives, principles for decision-making, and geographical coverage of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the International Maritime Organization influence the design and implementation of an allocation mechanism under each of these two bodies. We find that the allocation mechanism that best meets criteria related to effectiveness and equity would be one in which emissions are assigned to countries of ship owners, and which operates under the UNFCCC.
Neither international treaties nor domestic policies control carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from international shipping. To enhance mitigation, a new multilateral mechanism could allocate these emissions to national carbon budgets, where different options could be used based on the location of industry actors and ships. We analyze five allocation options, showing that a clear majority of CO2 emissions would be distributed to ten countries under each option; however, the top ten countries vary across allocation options and the amount of CO2 emissions allotted to individual countries could increase their carbon budgets thousand-fold or more. We further examine how the different objectives, principles for decision-making, and geographical coverage of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the International Maritime Organization influence the design and implementation of an allocation mechanism under each of these two bodies. We find that the allocation mechanism that best meets criteria related to effectiveness and equity would be one in which emissions are assigned to countries of ship owners, and which operates under the UNFCCC.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Institute for Data, Systems, and Society
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Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ABEC02
