Results

Navigating the contradiction of green growth in sustainable maritime shipping

Lister, Jane. “Navigating the Contradiction of Green Growth in Sustainable Maritime Shipping”. Paper presented at CBS Workshop 2019, Copenhagen, Denmark, January 14-15 2019. 

This survey article synthesizes across green economy typologies to evaluate ‘green shipping’ efforts in the maritime sector with the objective of understanding and identifying the weaknesses and pathways to stronger maritime environmental performance and global ecological outcomes. The article argues that efforts to address the direct environmental impact of ocean shipping are essential, however, these efforts alone in the absence of the consideration of the contradiction of green growth on a finite planet run the risk of simply reinforcing the distribution mechanisms feeding the global environmental crisis. While many initiatives will achieve some environmental improvements, most are weak as they are reversible, ignore absolute environmental impact, and transfer costs along the supply chain.

Read the research summary here.