Maritime carbon emissions and the shipping industry’s competitive edge

Ships navigating the world’s oceans emit a staggering one billion tons of carbon dioxide annually. This figure surpasses the emissions from global aviation and is approximately 1.5 times South Korea’s total national emissions. This raises a complex question: When a ship travels from South Korea to the United States, who is responsible for the carbon it emits during the voyage? Is it South Korea, the U.S., the ship owner or the cargo owner? Under the Kyoto Protocol of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, greenhouse gas emissions from international shipping and aviation are treated differently from emissions in other sectors. The responsibility for limiting and reducing these emissions is delegated to the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the International Civil Aviation Organization, respectively. This special designation exists because attributing maritime emissions to specific nations is both technically and politically challenging, as vessels are mobile assets that operate across multiple jurisdictions. As the primary regulator for the internationWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times