At the regulatory level, the international shipping
industry is adhering increasingly to environmental
sustainability principles and is recognizing its important
role in maintaining the current international momentum
on sustainability and climate change action in maritime
transport. In 2011, the IMO (the body entrusted by
UNFCCC to develop and enact global regulations
to control GHG emissions from ships engaged in
that addresses carbon emissions from international
shipping, namely the Energy Efficiency Design Index
(EEDI) and the Ship Energy Efficiency Management Plan
(SEEMP) (see chapter 5 for a more detailed discussion
of the new rules). Market-based measures, such as
emissions trading or a global levy to help cut further
emissions from international shipping are also being
considered by IMO, but a number of outstanding issues are holding back a rapid adoption of an international
agreement. These include the need to reconcile the
principle of common but differentiated responsibilities
and respective capabilities (CBDR) under the UNFCCC
with the principle of uniform and global application of
IMO instruments, as well as the need to determine the
level of contribution by shipping into the Green Climate
Fund (GCF) (established in December 2011 at the
United Nations Climate Change Conference in Durban
- See the following section on climate finance). The
Fund aims to generate $100 billion per year by 2020 to
enable mitigation and adaptation action in developing
countries. While the United Nations Secretary-General’s
High-level Advisory Group on Climate Change Financing
(AGF), established in 2010, suggested that some
$16 billion per year could be raised from international
shipping, the World Bank suggests that instead some
$25 billion per year could be generated. The shipping
industry is concerned that its potential contribution into
the Fund will be disproportionate to its responsibility for
global CO2 emissions, and that it will be doubly charged
through the UNFCCC as well as via a potential marketbased
instrument under the IMO.