Full Title: Sink or Swim: The Economic Impacts of an International Maritime Emissions System for Greenhouse Gases on the United States
Author(s): Nigel Purvis and Samuel Grausz
Publisher(s): Brookings Institution
Publication Date: July 1, 2012
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Description (excerpt):
The maritime sector, long unregulated with regards to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, has recently become a focus of climate change policy. Last year the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the global regulator of maritime trade, issued energy efficiency standards (which directly impact GHG emissions) for new and modified ships and is now deciding how to regulate emissions from existing ships.
The European Union has also recently solicited input on how to regulate emissions from ships calling in European ports in case discussions in the IMO do not proceed. Furthermore reports issued by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, comments by Bill Gates and language agreed to at the U.N. Climate Negotiations in 2012 all identified shipping emissions as a target for both emissions reductions and raising revenue to address climate change in developing countries.
As indicated by previous climate debates, the position of the United States on these policies will likely decisively impact whether the policies succeed or fail. U.S. leaders, however, currently lack the necessary analyses on which to base their opinions as few studies have modeled the benefits and costs of these potential policies.