Ph.d.-profil: Agnete Hessevik

If Norway is to truly commit to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, it is necessary to look to the shipping sector. The Norwegian Government puts environmentally friendly shipping as one of the top five priority areas of the Government’s climate policy. The development of low-emission technology is moving at a fast pace, creating the possibility to build ships with significantly less emission of greenhouse gases. What makes shipping companies take measures to reduce emissions from their ships? My PhD project aims at understanding which regulating actors influence shipping companies to reduce emissions, how regulation works and what kind of regulation is more effective.

I apply a broad understanding of the concept of regulation, which includes regulation by the state and international bodies, as well as non-state actors setting rules, putting forward demands and trying to steer shipping companies to cut emissions. This concept of regulation also includes self-regulation by market actors. Applying such a broad concept of regulation enables the researcher to capture and describe a whole range of regulatory mechanisms going on, not to miss influential regulation put forward by other actors than the state.