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Carbon Taxation for International Maritime Fuels: Assessing the Options

Author

Listed:
  • Ian W.H. Parry
  • Mr. Dirk Heine
  • Kelley Kizzier
  • Tristan Smith

Abstract

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) announced in April 2018 a target of cutting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the sector by 50 percent below 2008 levels by 2050 and subsequent meetings of the IMO will develop a strategy for making headway on this commitment. This paper seeks to inform dialogue about the possibility of a carbon tax as a key element of GHG mitigation policy for international maritime transport. The paper discusses the case for the tax over alternative mitigation instruments, options for the practical design issues, and then presents estimates of the impacts of carbon taxation and other instruments from an analytical model of the maritime sector.

Suggested Citation

  • Ian W.H. Parry & Mr. Dirk Heine & Kelley Kizzier & Tristan Smith, 2018. "Carbon Taxation for International Maritime Fuels: Assessing the Options," IMF Working Papers 2018/203, International Monetary Fund.
    • Handle: RePEc:imf:imfwpa:2018/203
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Lugovskyy, Volodymyr & Skiba, Alexandre & Terner, David, 2025. "Unintended consequences of environmental regulation of maritime shipping: Carbon leakage to air shipping," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    2. Mundaca, Gabriela & Strand, Jon & Young, Ian R., 2021. "Carbon pricing of international transport fuels: Impacts on carbon emissions and trade activity," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    3. Björk, Lisa & Vierth, Inge, 2021. "Freight modal shift in Sweden – means or objective?," Working Papers 2021:5, Swedish National Road & Transport Research Institute (VTI).
    4. Mr. Serkan Arslanalp & Mr. Marco Marini & Ms. Patrizia Tumbarello, 2019. "Big Data on Vessel Traffic: Nowcasting Trade Flows in Real Time," IMF Working Papers 2019/275, International Monetary Fund.
    5. Baldi, Francesco & Moret, Stefano & Tammi, Kari & Maréchal, François, 2020. "The role of solid oxide fuel cells in future ship energy systems," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 194(C).
    6. Sotiria Lagouvardou & Harilaos N. Psaraftis & Thalis Zis, 2020. "A Literature Survey on Market-Based Measures for the Decarbonization of Shipping," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-23, May.
    7. Harilaos N. Psaraftis & Thalis Zis, 2021. "Impact assessment of a mandatory operational goal-based short-term measure to reduce GHG emissions from ships: the LDC/SIDS case study," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 21(3), pages 445-467, September.
    8. Ghaforian Masodzadeh, Peyman & Ölçer, Aykut I. & Ballini, Fabio & Christodoulou, Anastasia, 2022. "How to bridge the short-term measures to the Market Based Measure? Proposal of a new hybrid MBM based on a new standard in ship operation," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 123-142.

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