POLICY AND PRACTICE REVIEWS article
Front. Mar. Sci.
Sec. Marine Pollution
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmars.2025.1689866
This article is part of the Research TopicAdvances in Marine Environmental Protection: Challenges, Solutions and Perspectives Volume IIView all 59 articles
The International Legal and Practical Development of Shipping Decarbonization: China Perspective
Provisionally accepted
- Wuhan University, Wuhan, China
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The impact of climate change on the environment has led to increasing demands for the decarbonization of the shipping industry. The Climate Change Advisory Opinion has further drawn attention to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in various countries. As a major shipping nation, China's role in this process cannot be ignored. Despite international efforts, the extent to which China can and will contribute to shipping decarbonization remains a critical question. The paper provides a contemporary overview of several aspects of decarbonization of shipping, with a particular focus on China's position within the IMO, national regulations and UNFCCC frameworks. By examining legal developments and international practices in shipping decarbonization, this paper aims to demonstrate China's active participation and contribution to this global effort. Firstly, the paper reviews the IMO's progressive development of shipping decarbonization regulations and China's contribution to legislative practices. Secondly, it defines three main issues in shipping decarbonization and analyzes China's stance on these challenges. Finally, the article proposes potential solutions and discusses China's facilitating role in the international cooperation on shipping decarbonization.
Keywords: Decarbonization of shipping, Green shipping, International Cooperation, International Law, The role of China
Received: 21 Aug 2025; Accepted: 15 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wu, Zhou and Lin. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Chenyu Lin, linchenyu@whu.edu.cn
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