The number of governments backing a proposal for a global levy on maritime emissions has grown, according to the head of the United Nations shipping body, in a shift celebrated by Pacific island states which are particularly vulnerable to climate change.“You will see that an increased number of member states are now adding their support for the levy,” Arsenio Dominguez, secretary-general of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), told journalists at its London headquarters on Tuesday.
Shipping-reliant nations like Panama and Liberia have joined the European Union, UK, Japan, Nigeria, Kenya and others in backing the Pacific islands’ proposal for a levy on ships’ emissions.
Veteran Pacific shipping negotiator Albon Ishoda, the Marshall Islands’ special envoy for maritime decarbonisation, said support from Panama and Liberia was a “milestone in our collective journey” and “validates the Pacific’s enduring efforts to champion ambition and equity”.
Price on all emissions?
At upcoming talks in London in February and April, governments will debate whether to impose a levy on all of a ship’s emissions or only to introduce a fuel standard.
A levy would force ship owners to pay for every tonne of greenhouse gases their vessels emit, making the use of more polluting fuels – like today’s oil-based bunker fuel – more expensive. It would incentivise the use of lower-emitting fuels like ammonia, biofuels, methanol and hydrogen.
A fuel standard, which most countries already agree on, would see ship owners pay for emissions only above a certain level. Owners of ships emitting below this level could potentially sell licenses to those emitting above it, enabling them to continue polluting. This would incentivise shipowners to use cleaner fuels or to save fuel by sailing slower.
On Tuesday, Dominguez said he was optimistic that agreement on whether to have a levy, fuel standard or both would be found in April and signed off at the next set of IMO talks in October.
Arsenio Dominguez speaks to journalists at International Maritime Organization headquarters on January 14 2024 (Photo: IMO)
Details to come later
Negotiations on how much a levy should be, and what it should be spent on, are likely to take longer but the IMO aims to have any measures in place by 2027.
Ahead of the February 17-21 talks, governments have submitted proposals on how a levy – which could raise over $100 billion a year, according to UN estimates – should be designed.
A proposal put forward by the broad group of levy backers unanimously recommends that some of the money should be given to ships powered by clean fuels and used to research and develop these fuels and the port infrastructure required to use them.
It also says that part of the funds raised should go towards addressing disproportionately negative impacts of the measures, which studies have shown are likely to raise the price of shipping across the world, on some countries.
But the countries behi