von Malmborg, F. Tapping the Conversation on the Meaning of Decarbonization: Discourses and Discursive Agency in EU Politics on Low-Carbon Fuels for Maritime Shipping. Sustainability2024, 16, 5589.
von Malmborg, F. Tapping the Conversation on the Meaning of Decarbonization: Discourses and Discursive Agency in EU Politics on Low-Carbon Fuels for Maritime Shipping. Sustainability 2024, 16, 5589.
von Malmborg, F. Tapping the Conversation on the Meaning of Decarbonization: Discourses and Discursive Agency in EU Politics on Low-Carbon Fuels for Maritime Shipping. Sustainability2024, 16, 5589.
von Malmborg, F. Tapping the Conversation on the Meaning of Decarbonization: Discourses and Discursive Agency in EU Politics on Low-Carbon Fuels for Maritime Shipping. Sustainability 2024, 16, 5589.
Abstract
EU politics on decarbonizing shipping is an argumentative struggle in which actors try to make others see the problem and policy solutions according to their views and seek to position other actors in a specific way. This article critically analyses, by means of argumentative discourse analysis, the politics and policy process related to the recent adoption of the FuelEU Maritime regulation, the world’s most ambitious legislation for decarbonizing maritime shipping. Different storylines and discourses as well as agency of policy actors on the problems and policy options defining the meaning of decarbonization are analysed. Two discourses framed the debates, focusing on (i) incremental change and technology neutrality to meet moderate emission reductions and maintain competitiveness, and (ii) transformative change and technology specificity to meet zero emissions and gain competitiveness and global leadership in the transition towards a hydrogen economy. Policy actors successfully used discursive agency strategies such as multiple functionality and vagueness to navigate between and resolve conflicts between the two discourses. Both discourses are associated with the overarching ecological modernization discourse and failed to include issue of a just transition. The heritage of the ecological modernization discourse creates lock-ins for a broader decarbonization discourse, thus stalling a just transition.
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
