The PermaGov Deliverable focuses on exploring the EU policy landscape within the context of the European Green Deal (EGD), structured around four regime complexes: marine life, marine plastics, marine energy, and maritime transport. These complexes provide a framework for analyzing the EU's approach to achieving the EGD's vision for sustainable marine governance. This report aims to offer a descriptive overview of marine EU policies relevant to the PermaGov project, focusing on policies identified as relevant to the overarching goals set forth in the EGD. It also considers relevant initiatives at global and regional levels.
The marine life regime sees the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 as its overarching strategy, essential for the EGD's element of preserving and restoring ecosystems and biodiversity. Tackling the challenges of marine waste pollution, the marine plastics regime is guided by the EU Circular Economy Action Plan and the EU Action Plan: Towards Zero Pollution for Air, Water, and Soil, targeting the EGD's elements of a mobilizing industry for a clean and circular economy and a zero-pollution ambition for a toxic-free environment. The marine energy regime is shaped by the European Climate Law and the Offshore Renewable Energy Strategy, which are the overarching instruments that contribute to the EGD's elements of increasing the EU's climate ambition for 2030 and 2050 and ensuring the supply of clean, affordable, and secure energy. Lastly, the maritime transport regime sees the'Fit for 55'Package and the'Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy'as the two main instruments to achieve the EGD's elements of increasing the EU.
Climate change is affecting the oceans with increased sea levels, ocean acidification and extreme weather affecting coastal ecosystems. This necessitates a new model for climate and marine law, because existing law and policy are insufficient to tackle adaptation and mitigation impacts upon the marine environment. Presently, we do not know what it takes to integrate and balance climate legislation and governance when faced with unknown problems. The concept of Blue Economy is new and originates from the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development. This chapter explores how one can best build new knowledge that can integrate climate law and marine governance. It does so by proposing the creation of a nexus between ecosystem-based regulations and marine spatial planning in order to create a new paradigm for effective and inclusive Blue Economy, using a systemic multi-regulatory framework (Global, Regional and National).
This paper introduces a resilience assessment methodology for sustainable autonomous maritime transport networks developed by the European project entitled “Advanced, Efficient, and Green Intermodal Systems” (AEGIS). This problem being addressed in this paper concerns the investigation of threats, incidents, and risks in an autonomous- and sustainable shipping context, and the research question is the development of both preventive measures and reactive actions to maintain an acceptable level of operational constraints. The paper's methodology aids in designing sustainable logistics systems for highly automated waterborne transport, identifying threats and barriers to mitigate event consequences, thereby facilitating a seamless green transition. To examine the usability, this methodology is applied in a case study for cargo transportation, where we in this paper consider the maritime corridor between Trondheim and Rotterdam. The findings encompass the spectrum of possible actions to prevent and mitigate unwanted events and enhance resilience and flexibility. This can be used as a tool to respond to unwanted threats, enhance safety, and introduce new strategies. These results are deemed important as resilience is one of the prerequisites for the development of a sustainable transport system. This is true both for the companies that are engaged in the operation of such systems and for policymakers.
In January 2023 the International Seabed Authority (ISA), an intergovernmental organization established under the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) granted already thirty contracts for exploration of Deep Seabed Mining, but exploitation has not started yet because ISA has not finalized its regulations, expected in 2025. This article intends to address to what extent is the current deep Seabed mining regime factoring risks and uncertainties in a just and sustainable manner in the current legal framework on environmental liability embedded in the green energy transition's processes with the EU as case study and inquiry if there are baseline or best practice to learn from. It unravels which type of precautionary approach fits and is just. Deep Seabed Mining is also a social justice, ethical dilemma demanding equitable and shared solutions to the benefit of current and future generations because activities of this kind can destroy ecosystems that can take decades to regenerate, if not causing irreversible damage. Law and technology, but also technology will be crucial as new methods guaranteeing an "environmentally benign Deep Seabed Mining" will determine how liability law will be shaped.
This report discusses the concept of governance, how to understand 'effective' governance, and a research plan for further studies of the effectiveness of and potential for improving governance at the regional and sub-regional level in the SEAwise regions (Baltic Sea, North Sea, Western Waters, and the Mediterranean Sea). The theoretical insights from the first two main parts inform and are merged into the research plan, forming the last part of the report. The work is based on the recognition that fisheries management in Europe is still struggling to deliver on its objectives relating to ecology, economy, and social considerations although improvements have been made over the last decades. On top of this, marine biodiversity and ecosystem integrity can be identified as pressing challenges, while climate change presents renewed uncertainties and risks.
Improved governance, appropriately designed for Ecosystem Based Fisheries Management (EBFM), is key to improving the system performance towards the societal objectives. Lack of appropriate measures towards cooperation between the EU, national, and regional levels has led to uncoordinated decision-making processes and prevented coherent management through the implementation and adoption of EU legislation, leading to lower than desired performance both of fisheries and environmental policies. Referring specifically to the involvement of stakeholders, the European Commission stresses the importance of transparency, cooperation, outreach, information, and inclusiveness in developing and implementing measures to ensure that all stakeholders, not least fishermen, have a say in the management process, and that their needs and concerns are considered (European Commission, 2023a). Improvement of what can broadly be defined as 'governance' is, thus, among the pathways that the European Commission has identified for improvements in the area.
This report discusses the concept of governance, how to understand 'effective' governance, and a research plan for further studies of the effectiveness of and potential for improving governance at the regional and sub-regional level in the SEAwise regions (Baltic Sea, North Sea, Western Waters, and the Mediterranean Sea). The theoretical insights from the first two main parts inform and are merged into the research plan, forming the last part of the report. The work is based on the recognition that fisheries management in Europe is still struggling to deliver on its objectives relating to ecology, economy, and social considerations although improvements have been made over the last decades. On top of this, marine biodiversity and ecosystem integrity can be identified as pressing challenges, while climate change presents renewed uncertainties and risks.
Improved governance, appropriately designed for Ecosystem Based Fisheries Management (EBFM), is key to improving the system performance towards the societal objectives. Lack of appropriate measures towards cooperation between the EU, national, and regional levels has led to uncoordinated decision-making processes and prevented coherent management through the implementation and adoption of EU legislation, leading to lower than desired performance both of fisheries and environmental policies. Referring specifically to the involvement of stakeholders, the European Commission stresses the importance of transparency, cooperation, outreach, information, and inclusiveness in developing and implementing measures to ensure that all stakeholders, not least fishermen, have a say in the management process, and that their needs and concerns are considered (European Commission, 2023a). Improvement of what can broadly be defined as 'governance' is, thus, among the pathways that the European Commission has identified for improvements in the area.
This article reviews and examines the most significant climate-change-related impacts and adaptation from the perspective of stakeholders in Greenlandic fisheries. The study was constructed as a comprehensive, multi-site, bottom-up case study around Greenlandic fisheries (south-north/offshore-inshore), where interviews and workshops with Greenlandic fishermen and stakeholders have communicated their observations of fishery changes associated with changes in the marine environment within the last decade. Key observations include: changes in sea ice cover; increased abundance of known species in North Greenland; fish species relocation and periodic absences in coastal systems; a northward movement of the shrimp fishery; new and unprecedented bycatch issues; and new fisheries. Stakeholder knowledge acknowledges the capacity of both offshore and coastal fisheries to adapt to changing seasonality and distribution. Factory capacity and decision-making as well as bycatch legislation have been identified as the most critical bottlenecks for (re)diversifying fisheries and increasing the value of the locally available resources.
This PhD thesis examines the role of market-based measures (MBMs) in incentivizing international shipping greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions to leverage the decarbonization efforts of the International Maritime Organization (IMO). The research motivation sprang from the Initial IMO Strategy, which, among other climate ambitions, envisages at least a 50% curb of GHG emissions until 2050 vis-a-vis 2008 levels. The regulatory framework involves several candidate measures, including MBMs, i.e., environmental policies like carbon taxes and emissions trading systems (ETS) that enforce the "polluter-pays" principle, and thus provide fiscal incentives to stakeholders to eliminate their carbon footprint.
The assessment of MBMs as means of decarbonizing shipping is based on three main pillars: their economic efficiency, their environmental effectiveness, and their climate policy design. Compliance with carbon pricing regimes can entail the adoption of both operational measures, such as speed reduction, route reconfiguration, or voyage optimization techniques, and technological measures like the uptake of zero-carbon technologies and alternative marine fuels. Due to this wide range of conformity practices, this thesis assesses several short- and long-term responses to MBMs in order to encapsulate their cost effectiveness in relation to their carbon abatement potential.
From a climate policy design perspective, the two most prominent types of MBMs are the carbon taxes, a fixed-price approach that provides carbon price certainty, and the ETSs, a fixedquantity system that secures that GHG emissions levels are met. At first, the study evaluates the prospects of a carbon levy to achieve GHG emissions reductions by analyzing the macroeconomic effects of freight rates and fuel prices in inducing slow steaming as an operational response to the MBM. The results show that market conditions influence the overall effectiveness of a tax and that the attained reductions, although significant, are insufficient to reach the 50% decarbonization targets. Moreover, considering the imminent inclusion of the maritime sector into the EU ETS, the thesis examines the scenario of liner shipping operators opting for route reconfigurations as an operational response to a regional ETS. The outputs reveal that replacing EU ports with nearby non-EU competitor ports becomes cost-effective for minimal EU carbon prices. The action would result in carbon leakage, EU ETS evasion, loss of EU ETS revenue, and penalization of the EU ports.
To the extent that MBMs induce technological changes, this thesis evaluates the level of carbon pricing needed to close the price gap between alternative and conventional marine fuels. The analysis considers the capital and operational costs for implementing and utilizing alternative marine fuels onboard and develops their marginal abatement cost curves (MACCs) to evaluate their cost-competitiveness and carbon abatement spectrum. The analysis indicates that to reach full maritime decarbonization, fuels such as green liquid hydrogen and their supporting technology, as of today’s cost estimations, would require a carbon price of up to 700 USD/MT CO2e to become cost-competitive.
The thesis concludes that accounting for a well-to-wake scope of emissions will create the right
incentives for developing sustainable alternative marine fuel production pathways to facilitate
shipping’s future energy demand. Revenues from MBMs will be substantial and can accelerate
R&D, scale-up the availability of alternative fuels, subsidize "fist-movers" and green ships and
reverse possible detrimental effects of carbon pricing to developing countries such as the Least
Developed Countries (LDCs) and the Small Island Developing States (SIDS).
In this study, we investigate the barriers and enablers companies face when they seek to establish a fully decarbonized supply chain from the ground up. While recent research on sustainable supply chain management has advanced our understanding of how existing supply chains can become more sustainable, there is less research on fully decarbonized supply chains that are designed carbon neutral to produce carbon neutral products. This research aims to expand that frontier by investigating the case of the emerging supply chain delivering fossil-neutral e- methanol to the shipping industry.
This report presents the results from the project 'Future Fishermen'. The report addresses recruitment challenges in Danish fisheries with a particular focus on the Fisheries School's education. The purpose of the study was to provide a broader and more systematic knowledge base that the industry can use to address recruitment problems and challenges derived from them, e.g. generational change.
The report is based on a literature study and qualitative interviews with students at the Fisheries School (who are apprentices in relation to the internship) and other actors in the fisheries as the central empirical evidence. Along the way, we have sparred with representatives from the three fisheries organizations FSK‐PO, DFPO and DPPO, as well as employees at the Fisheries School. However, the conclusions are solely the authors' own.
The main purpose of the study was to understand young people's values and images of fisheries in order to increase recruitment to (and retention in) Danish fisheries and especially the Fisheries School. In this process, we have addressed 3 overall problem complexes that are important in terms of meeting the recruitment challenges in Danish fisheries: recruitment to the Fisheries School; recruitment to the entire fishing industry; and the Fisheries School's education.