A review on barriers to and solutions for shipping decarbonization: What could be the best policy approach for shipping decarbonization?

Shipping industry, like other industrial sectors, suffers from an energy efficiency gap. The majority of the literature focuses more on identifying barriers than proposing solutions. This study seeks to achieve two objectives: first, to provide a repository of barriers/solutions for shipping decarbonization, and second, to identify an optimal policy framework to combine all the solutions in the best way. In this vein, a two-phase literature review is conducted; at the first phase, with a focus on energy efficiency in non-maritime literature, a barrier template is developed which is applied to maritime literature in the second phase. The result is a comprehensive repository of barriers and solutions for shipping decarbonization. Our findings indicate that, while policy deficiencies are the most prevalent barriers, the financial footprint is clearly evident in most solutions. Therefore our recommendation is an economic-based policy with an integrated approach that supports all the possible solutions in parallel.

Impacts of COVID-19 pandemic on the global energy system and the shift progress to renewable energy: Opportunities, challenges, and policy implications.

Being declared a global emergency, the COVID-19 pandemic has taken many lives, threatened livelihoods and businesses around the world. The energy industry, in particular, has experienced tremendous pressure resulting from the pandemic. In response to such a challenge, the development of sustainable resources and renewable energy infrastructure has demonstrated its potential as a promising and effective strategy. To sufficiently address the effect of COVID-19 on renewable energy development strategies, short-term policy priorities should be identified, while mid-term and long-term action plans should be formulated in achieving the well-defined renewable energy targets and progress towards a more sustainable energy future. In this review, opportunities, challenges, and significant impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on current and future sustainable energy strategies were analyzed in detail; while drawing from experiences in identifying reasonable behaviors, orientating appropriate actions, and policy implications on the sustainable energy trajectory were also mentioned. Indeed, the question is that whether the COVID-19 pandemic will kill us or provide us with a precious lesson on future sustainable energy development.

The development of a transdisciplinary policy framework for shipping companies to mitigate underwater noise pollution from commercial vessels.

One of the newly emerging environmental issues is underwater noise pollution. It has both negative environmental and socio-economic impacts and threatens sustainable shipping. While other types of shipping pollutants have been regulated and societal awareness has been raised, due to the intangible characteristics of underwater noise pollution, there is neither societal awareness nor an international legally binding instrument to mitigate underwater noise pollution. This paper aims to raise awareness of ship owners regarding UWN pollution by introducing the sources of UWN pollution, as well as proposing a transdisciplinary policy for shipping companies to mitigate UWN pollution from their ships. The proposed policy is aligned with IMO's initial GHG strategy, especially the Energy Efficiency Design Index, Energy Efficiency Existing Ship Index, and Enhanced Ship Energy Efficiency Management Plan. This multi-dimensional approach will make stakeholders more enthusiastic to tackle underwater noise pollution while enhancing the efficient use of capacities and resources.

Ports' technical and operational measures to reduce greenhouse gas emission and improve energy efficiency: A review.

This study reviews and categorises ports' technical and operational measures to reduce greenhouse gas emission and improve energy efficiency. Through a systematic review, both measures in the portside including land transport, and in the ship-port interface, were identified and structured into 7 main categories and 19 subcategories based on 214 studies. The measures' characteristics, abatement potential, best practices and key issues were clarified. The results show that there is insufficient research on ports in developing countries, as research is centred on developed countries' ports. Furthermore, it is unlikely that any single measure may lead to port decarbonisation owing to varying abatement potential, complexity, and cost. Therefore, assessments of feasibility and effectiveness to identify the best combination of measures are vital steps forward. In addition to the highlighted fertile research areas, the result of measures categorisation is considered a tool for policymakers and a basis for researchers to verify future agendas.