To address greenhouse gas emissions from international shipping, the International Maritime Organization has adopted technical and operational measures, and discussed the possibility of adopting market-based measures. China, Japan and South Korea are major shipbuilding nations in the world, and have differing responses towards the IMO’s regulatory initiatives. This paper conducts a comparative assessment of these three countries’ positions on regulatory principles of the greenhouse gas issue, and concludes that their differentiated perspectives on this matter reflect their different regulatory interests. It is significant to take their differentiated interests into account in the developing regulatory regime to avoid disproportionate burdens being placed on certain countries, in particular developing countries.

Gigantic Shipbuilders under the IMO Mandate of GHG Emissions
  I. Introduction
  II. The Shipping Industries in China, Japan and South Korea
  III. China, Japan and South Korea’s Perspectives on Regulatory Principles of GHG Emissions from International Shipping
  IV. Conclusion

• Yubing Shi(Ph.D. candidate at Australian National Centre for Ocean Resources and Security (ANCORS), University of Wollongong)