Measuring, monitoring, reporting and verification of shipping emissions: Evaluating transparency and answerability

In October 2016, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) adopted mandatory fuel data reporting requirements by amending Annex VI of the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships. Before the adoption of the IMO Data Collection System (IMO DCS), the European Union (EU) introduced a regulation requiring monitoring, reporting and verification of greenhouse gas emissions from ships as an initial step to inform further action. This regulation enabled the EU to include greenhouse gas emissions from shipping as a part of their collective climate change strategy, known as the EU MRV system. This article analyses the EU MRV system and the IMO DCS against standards of transparency and answerability. It argues that whilst neither the EU MRV system nor the IMO DCS promotes optimal transparency or answerability, the EU MRV represents a framework that comes closer to promoting answerability through transparency.