Evaluating multi-level policy coherence in maritime decarbonization: A design–framing alignment approach

Journal article, 2026

Effective maritime decarbonization depends not only on ambitious targets, but on whether policy signals remain coherent across governance levels. This study develops a design-framing alignment approach to evaluate policy coherence by linking the formal design of instruments, including regulatory, incentive, and informational orientations, with their discursive framing. Applying this approach to 12 major policy documents (2015-2023), the study identifies distinct patterns in both instrument mixes and discursive emphases: global institutions rely primarily on informational measures, regional authorities deploy hybrid regulatory-incentive mechanisms, and national governments develop more balanced, implementation-oriented designs adapted to domestic contexts. Over time, the analysis reveals an emerging shift toward integrated and hybrid policy mixes, reflecting growing policy learning and adaptive coordination across governance tiers. The findings demonstrate that policy coherence is not solely a structural property but an interpretive outcome shaped by how policy signals are communicated. Misalignment may weaken perceived regulatory credibility and increase investment uncertainty, whereas coherence enhances legitimacy and implementation potential. By jointly examining design and framing representation, this study offers a replicable methodological framework for assessing policy coherence and advances a theoretical perspective that conceptualizes policy coherence as a credibility-generating mechanism in multi-level climate governance.