Following the intervention of US President Donald Trump, groundbreaking negotiations for uniform climate protection rules in international shipping have failed for the time being. The adoption of a package of measures by the responsible UN Specialized Maritime Organization (IMO) on Friday in London was postponed for a year due to pressure from the USA, as associations familiar with the negotiations announced.
The USA had repeatedly spoken out against the adoption of the package. Before the final day of negotiations, Trump wrote on the Truth Social platform: The United States would not accept and comply with global shipping taxes that were fraudulent. The request to postpone came from Saudi Arabia, the BBC reported.
Disappointed reactions from Germany too
The failed negotiations were met with criticism in Germany: “It remains highly doubtful whether a consensus will be achieved next year,” said the general manager of the Association of German Shipowners, Martin Kröger.
Kröger criticized the EU for being “too quiet” against pressure from the USA. “Right now, the EU could have turned things around with clear words and a willingness to adapt its regional regulations to a global system. Instead, it remained silent and completely underestimated the mood of some states in the plenary to change.”
The Association for Shipbuilding and Marine Technology, which represents shipyards and their suppliers, spoke of a bitter setback. The German Nature Conservation Association made a similar statement. After years of negotiations there is no result.
Shipping should be climate neutral by around 2050
The new rules could not have come into force until March 2027 at the earliest. The so-called “Net-Zero Framework” was intended to define standards for fuels and price greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. Similar regional requirements already exist at the EU level. The federal government had spoken out in favor of its adoption.
In 2023, after long debates among themselves, the IMO member states agreed to achieve climate neutrality in shipping by around 2050. They also set interim goals for 2030 and 2040. Shipping was responsible for around 2.9 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions in 2018.
