InterAct Conference

Even though shipping contributes about 3% to global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the industry’s carbon footprint has remained largely unregulated until very recently. In the summer of 2023, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) has revised its Initial Greenhouse Gas strategy with the overall ambition to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. However, the exact means of reaching this target are not defined yet. Among the different ways to tackle this problem, market-based measures and a fuel standard are considered. In parallel to these IMO efforts, the European Union has decided to include shipping into its Emission Trading Scheme. The implementation of this EU policy raises several legal and commercial questions, including the interaction with the measures eventually adopted by the IMO.

Besides the discussions on GHG emissions, the climate impacts of Arctic shipping are gaining traction in the political agenda. In particular, black carbon pollution, which is the second largest climate forcer after carbon dioxide, is especially relevant in the context of shipping through the Arctic. However, the legal and regulatory framework on this topic is yet to be fully developed.

While states play the main roles in these regulatory processes at international and regional levels, non-state actors are becoming increasingly important. Therefore, it is also important to explore international law-making processes in this context.

The conference ‘International law-making: Actors in shipping and climate change’ aims to explore current developments in the regulation of shipping related climate impacts, including the law-making processes at the international level, the role of actors and the implementation and enforcement of regulatory outcomes.

More information and registration

For more information regarding programme, venue, abstracts please take a look at our event-page here!

For registration for both in-person and online participation please click here!