The European Union is currently consulting on various reforms connected to its climate and emissions policies. Among these are proposed updates concerning neighbouring container transhipment ports under the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) and FuelEU Maritime, together with financial compensation related to ETS2.
Such initiatives may sound highly technical, but their implications are environmental, economic, and social. The EU itself acknowledges this - a case in point was the recent news that Malta would be benefiting from the EU's Social Climate Plan to support vulnerable households and transport users in the clean transition.
The environmental objectives of the first two reforms mentioned above are quite clear: Shipping needs to contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, while Europe must continue its transition towards greater sustainability.
ETS2, meanwhile, extends carbon pricing to fuel combustion in buildings, road transport, and additional sectors. Here it is pertinent to note that stakeholders in Malta, such as the Association of Tractor and Trailer Operators (ATTO), have expressed their concerns on the impacts on Malta's connectivity.
For Malta, these reforms are also particularly significant because the maritime sector is intertwined with connectivity, employment and everyday life. At the same time, policies create opportunities, costs and risks, and these are not necessarily distributed equally.
One concern in this regard is whether stronger regulation within the EU could unintentionally encourage shipping operators to relocate some activities to neighbouring non-EU ports where labour is cheaper, social protections are weaker or environmental standards are less demanding. If environmental regulation simply shifts economic activity or environmental pressures from one jurisdiction to another, we should ask what has actually been achieved.
Ports are not simply locations where containers are loaded and unloaded. They provide employment, connectivity, and economic activity and form part of wider networks linking workers, communities, businesses, transport, tourism, and other sectors. This is particularly significant for small island states and peripheral EU regions: insularity, and dependence on particular forms of connectivity should form part of the assessment of such policies.
Along the same lines, carbon pricing can affect households and communities differently depending on income, age, disability, transport options, energy requirements and geographical location.
This is where the concept of blue justice becomes useful. A sustainable Blue Economy should ask not only how maritime sectors can grow or reduce emissions, but also who benefits, who pays, which workers and communities are affected, and how environmental and economic risks are distributed.
The Malta Sociological Association (MSA) has recently submitted feedback to the European Commission on these consultations. Among other things, it argued that maritime environmental regulation should not create incentives for activity to move towards jurisdictions characterised by weaker labour, social or environmental standards. It also called for particular consideration of small islands and peripheral regions and for Social Impact Assessment to accompany environmental and economic evaluation.
In this context, the challenge therefore is to ensure that environmental effectiveness, economic resilience, and social justice reinforce rather than undermine one another. A socially sustainable maritime transition should therefore neither resist necessary decarbonisation nor pursue it regardless of its social consequences. It should ask who gains, who loses and how costs and opportunities are distributed.
Maritime sociology can contribute to this debate by examining the interaction between society and the marine environment, the political economy of shipping and ports, the experiences of seafarers and other maritime workers, coastal communities and port cities, and the relationships between different economic sectors. I made a related argument recently in this newspaper (The Malta Independent on Sunday, 5 July 2026) when discussing the EU Strategy for Coastal Communities: coastal areas should not simply be understood as economic assets or environmental resources, but as living social spaces where different interests, identities and inequalities interact.
For Malta, this means bringing our small-island realities into European policymaking while recognising our responsibilities within the ecological transition. Decarbonisation is necessary, but its success should not be measured through emissions alone. Sustainable maritime reforms should also consider workers, communities, connectivity, inequality and the distribution of opportunities and risks. This is ultimately what blue justice should be about: ensuring that the transition is not only greener, but also socially sustainable.
Michael Briguglio is Associate Professor at the Department of Sociology, Faculty of Arts, University of Malta
www.michaelbriguglio.com