Abstract
Abstract Scholarship and practice before the European Court of Justice indicate that international organizations can unilaterally bind themselves under international law. This article evaluates whether the International Maritime Organization did so with its 2018 ‘Strategy’ to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from shipping. After first identifying the source of the imo’s mandate to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from shipping and its treaty obligations to do so, it finds that the imo has the institutional competence to unilaterally bind itself with respect to its function and purpose of regulating vessel-source pollution. It further finds that the imo imposed on itself an erga omnes obligation to mitigate climate change in order to meet the Paris Agreement’s global warming limitation goals. The article reflects on the implications of these findings for climate law and international law generally.
Highlights
International shipping represents a significant share of global greenhouse gas emissions.[1]
This article evaluates whether the International Maritime Organization did so with its 2018 ‘Strategy’ to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from shipping
One might argue that, notwithstanding any normative value of viewing the imo’s 2018 Strategy as imposing an erga omnes obligation, it instead should be classified as a mere political statement, or as an organizational rule applying only between the imo and its members, which can be withdrawn at the imo’s discretion
Summary
International shipping represents a significant share of global greenhouse gas emissions.[1]. When the marpol cop adopted an annex for air pollution in 1997, it called on the mepc to develop a greenhouse-gas-reduction strategy for shipping, and referred to Article 2(2) of the Kyoto Protocol, which obliges Annex i parties to ‘work through’ the imo to reduce or limit emissions from international shipping.[57]. The mepc acknowledged the ‘continuous’ work that the imo had done on climate change since 1997.73 the imo has long interpreted its mandate to control greenhouse gas emissions from shipping as arising from its constituent instrument, which, together with the imo’s specialized-agency agreement with the United Nations, grants it primacy as the international organization responsible for regulating shipping’s environmental impacts. The formal elements and factual circumstances of a particular unilateral action by the imo—the Strategy—are examined here to determine whether its characteristics allow for it to be classified as a binding unilateral declaration—in addition to being an imo ‘rule’.101
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