Climate Change Mitigation at Sea: International Obligations

This is a long-term project which is now at the early stages. The research focuses on the positive international obligations relevant for preventing, reducing and controlling marine pollution resulting from greenhouse gases and activities aimed at carbon dioxide removal. It analyses the link between the UN climate regime and the law of the sea and studies international and domestic law governing carbon dioxide removal at sea. The aim is to understand the practical significance of the positive obligation to reduce marine pollution resulting from greenhouse gas emissions and its relation to carbon dioxide removals and to clarify the rules generally applicable to such projects.

This project also considers the possibility of litigating obligations to mitigate climate change at sea. Dr. Árnadóttir has already presented findings relating to such litigation at the Annual Conference of the Icelandic Bar Association (2022) and a conference at Reykjavik University and presented early ideas in a blog post at Fifteen Eighty Four: Academic Perspectives from Cambridge University Press, entitled ‘Judicial Proceedings to Clarify International Law on Climate Change‘.

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