A global comparison of national shipping emissions and green shipping measures

In the context of COP28, the question of national, economy-wide climate action is again in the spotlight. Yet while shipping is clearly a fundamental part of national economies, most national climate plans given to the UNFCCC still do not include action on each country’s share of shipping emissions. Meanwhile, as the EU’s climate laws have shown, regional and national policy is key to chart a course for sustainable shipping worldwide.

Building on our analysis from COP27, this paper looks into depth at the policy measures available to address shipping emissions at national level. We display, for the first time, shipping emission profiles for countries with the administrative and economic capacity to regulate their share of shipping emissions. We find that the USA alone gives a subsidy of €1.4 billion to its shipping industry, while China currently awards just under €1 billion in subsidies. To address these emissions, we display the policy measures that can be used by these and other states to take action on their shipping emissions.