Christiaan De Beukelaer (Incoming Fellow 2024-25)

Senior Lecturer in Culture and Climate, University of Melbourne

Maritime transport is, both historically and currently, a major driver of global trade. In our globalized
economy, human life on Earth seems scarcely imaginable without maritime transport. This means that
shipping has, at least in theory, the potential to reshape global trade. Though, the focus of environmental
regulation in the industry remains narrowly focused on GHG emissions and harm reduction, rather than
actively aiming to shape a liveable planet for all. Through his research, Christiaan De Beukelaer explores
the challenge of looking beyond the narrow regulatory focus on GHG emissions by the International
Maritime Organization (IMO), the UN agency that regulates the industry. By researching prefigurative
politics (the use of sailing ships for cargo transport) and regulatory regimes (IMO regulations), his project
teases out the tensions between the planetary boundaries and social foundations between which a “safe
operating space for humanity” exists. By using the shipping industry as a synechdoche for the globalized
economy, the ocean holds up a mirror to terrestrial governance. The ocean is, after all, a unique space
governed by inter-governmental organisations (controlled by nation-states) without being subject to
sovereign claims of nation states. This creates a different set of stakes and possibilities for environmental
governance at sea than on land. Dr De Beukelaer’s question is therefore: can oceanic climate regimes
inform a new terrestrial governance architecture that moves beyond existing deadlocks and empty pro-
mises?