The Eco-Friendly Paradigm Shift in Shipping and Shipbuilding: Policy–Technology Linkages as Key Drivers

The decarbonization of shipping and shipbuilding is a critical challenge under the Inter-national Maritime Organization’s (IMO) 2030 greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction target and 2050 net-zero strategy, requiring effective coordination between policy and technology. This study investigates how Japan, China, and Korea respond to these regulatory pressures by systematically analyzing their policy–technology linkages. A four-stage design was applied, combining qualitative case studies, policy–technology mapping, theoretical interpretation, and comparative analysis, to trace how national strategies shape eco-friendly transitions. Japan employs an innovation-led, institution-convergent model in which technological demonstrations drive institutional adaptation and diffusion, China follows a policy-designated, execution-oriented model where state-led interventions accelerate commercialization, and Korea adopts a coordination-based, cyclical model balancing public demonstrations, financial support, and international standardization to reduce transition costs. These findings demonstrate that sequencing between policy–technology linkage is context-dependent, shaped by technological maturity, economic feasibility and infrastructure, institutional predictability, and socio-environmental acceptance. The study contributes a cyclic co-evolutionary perspective that moves beyond technological or institutional determinism, reconceptualizes regulation as enabling infra-structure, and identifies implications for global standard-setting and industrial competitiveness. The insights inform practical strategies for major shipbuilding nations to reduce costs while sustaining competitiveness under the IMO’s decarbonization framework.