Emerging Issues on Arctic Environmental and Climate Change Governance: Introduction

This Special Issue, based on the Third International Conference of the Transatlantic Maritime Emissions Research Network (TRAMEREN), Copenhagen, June 2019, examines emerging issues in Arctic environmental and climate change governance. The law of the sea performs a paramount role in stabilising a legal order in the ocean, including the marine Arctic. However, physical and ecological conditions surrounding the ocean may change over time, particularly in the era of climate change. Thus the antithesis between change and stability in the law of the sea is key when considering effects of climate change on the law of the sea. The six articles in this Special Issue provide insights into the development of the legal framework for governing the marine Arctic addressing, respectively, changing paradigms in the law of the sea, retreating coasts in the Arctic, environmental assessment, the Polar Code, fuel use regulation of Arctic shipping, and Arctic climate interventions.