Executing a Scharnow turn: reconciling shipping emissions with international commitments on climate change

The Copenhagen Accord (and Cancun Agreement) commits the international community to “hold the increase in global temperature below 2°C, and take action to meet this objective consistent with science and on the basis of equity.” This article explores the implications of these commitments for the shipping sector. It outlines how the science of climate change places stringent constraints on the sector’s emissions at the global level while the equity dimension tightens still further the industry’s emissions space for the Annex 1 nations. The mitigation potential of proposed global-scale measures are detailed and the apportionment of emissions between non-Annex 1 and Annex 1 discussed. Building on the scientific framing of cumulative emissions, the article concludes that nothing short of an immediate ‘Scharnow turn’ is necessary if the industry is not to capsize wider efforts to “hold the increase in global temperature below 2°C”.