Beatriz Martinez Romera

Ph.d.-studerende

Juridiske heltidsuddannelser, JUR Juridisk Ph.d.-uddannelse
Studiestræde 6
1455 København K

Kontor: Sankt Peders Stræde 5, 3. sal, 03-3-01
Telefon: +45 353-23180
E-mail: beatriz.martinez.romera@jur.ku.dk

Beatriz is currently doing a PhD on environmental law under Professor Peter Pagh's supervision. The research focusses on the inclusion of aviation and shipping transport emissions into global greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets:legal and policy barriers, conflicts and opportunities.

Project description:

Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions from international aviation and shipping transport were excluded from the Kyoto protocol targets in 1997 and it remains unclear whether they will be included in a replacement convention after 2012. Combined, these sectors, so-called ´bunker fuels´, account for less than 5% of the global total GHG emissions but they are growing faster than any other and it is expected they will continue increasing exponentially.

Article 2.2 of the Kyoto protocol places the International Maritime Organization and the International Civil Aviation Organization as responsible for negotiating sector-specific regulations to reduce GHG emissions. However, both organizations have failed to agree on the adoption of measures, market-based mechanisms - including fuel taxation or inclusion into an Emission Trading Scheme (ETS).

Despite the previous discussions and expectations, the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, December 2009, did not address uncertainties surrounding the treatment of bunker fuels.

Consequently, the EU's progress with legislating aviation emissions into the EU-ETS, originally designed for large industrial and commercial installations, (Directive 2008/101/EC amending Directive 2003/87/EC) and the announced inclusion of marine shipping at a later date (Directive 2009/29/EC) not only have implications for the Member States - implementation and effectiveness, allocation, coexistence with other measures and competition disadvantages - but also create legal and policy conflicts and challenges within the international community.

Taking into account recent developments this research explores the legal and policy framework for the inclusion of international aviation and shipping transport emissions into global GHG reduction mechanisms. In order to answer this question, it is necessary to consider different levels of law - international, regional, domestic laws - concerning different areas such as environment, taxation, trade, aviation, maritime. These often have different informing principles, conflicting objectives and gaps that fail to address new problems such how to reduce GHG emissions. Therefore this research aims to understand if and how these conflicts can be reconciled for the common good of reducing GHG emissions in an attempt to mitigate global climate change.