Loss, Damage and Responsibility after COP21: All Options Open for the Paris Agreement

In 1992, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change called for all sectors of the global economy, including transport, to contribute to the stabilization of greenhouse gas emissions. However, five years later, international aviation and maritime transport were explicitly excluded from the Kyoto Protocol's scope and have remained largely untouched. The negotiations on the regulation of these sectors' emissions under the United Nations climate regime, the International Civil Aviation Organization and the International Maritime Organization have played the buck-passing game for over two decades. In December 2015, the Paris Agreement was adopted without a reference to international aviation and maritime transport. Nevertheless, the Agreement is not without consequences for the regulation of these sectors. This article analyses the omission of the sectors from the Paris Agreement and the potential indirect effects of the Agreement in the regulation of emissions from international aviation and maritime transport. It argues that a multilateral regulatory shift to other venues outside the climate regime, unilateral measures and industry action will be further stimulated as a result of the omission of both sectors from the Paris Agreement.