“I don’t have much to say to you at the moment. This doesn’t happen often,” said IMO Secretary General Arsenio Dominguez as he appeared visibly dejected before the press on Friday. This marks the end of a turbulent week for the representatives of the 176 IMO member states in London without any result.
The IMO is a specialized agency of the UN. The organization’s environmental committee met in the British capital to seal the preliminary agreement in April. The shipping sector accounts for around three percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. CO2 pricing should ensure that ships are increasingly converted to fuels that are less harmful to the climate.
Countries such as China, Brazil, Great Britain and the EU support the project. For countries severely affected by climate change, such as the Pacific islands, the agreed rules did not go far enough. Major oil producers such as Saudi Arabia, Russia and the United Arab Emirates opposed it. But as a rule, the IMO relies on majority decisions and consensus; the necessary two-thirds majority for the CO2 pricing system was considered likely.
However, in its opposition to the plan, the USA went so far as to threaten countries with sanctions such as visa restrictions and port fees if they supported carbon pricing. President Donald Trump joined the debate via his online service Truth Social: “The United States will not tolerate this global green new fraud tax on shipping,” he declared.
Trump has ordered the USA to make a U-turn in climate policy. He describes climate protection as “fraud” and promotes the use of fossil fuels through deregulation. His Secretary of State Marco Rubio viewed the postponement of the vote in London on Friday as a “huge victory” for Trump.
Because of pressure from Washington, the Philippines, which has the largest number of workers in shipping, and the Caribbean islands, which are economically dependent on US cruise tourists, were considered weak candidates in the vote. Argentina, whose President Xavier Milei is considered a Trump ally and to which the USA has promised a billion-dollar aid package, also wanted to vote against the agreement.
According to participants, the negotiations over the past few days have been chaotic. The representative of Brazil criticized the “methods” of the USA. Finally, Liberia and Saudi Arabia requested that Friday’s vote be postponed. The motion was accepted.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres said IMO member states had missed an opportunity “to put the shipping sector on a clear and credible path towards net-zero emissions.” A spokeswoman for the EU Commission said that while the delay was “regrettable”, the European Union remained “committed to creating an ambitious and science-based global framework” for climate-neutral shipping by 2050.
The International Chamber of Shipping reacted with disappointment. The industry needs clarity in order to be able to make the “necessary investments” for its decarbonization. The Association of German Shipowners (VDR) spoke of a setback. The chance of “uniform and effective global rules” has now moved into the distance.
The German environmental and development organization Germanwatch sharply criticized the behavior of the US government. She allowed the agreement that had been worked out “over years” to fail “at the last minute” by building up pressure “in an unprecedented way” and disregarding “all the rules of diplomacy.” This must also be a “wake-up call” for the upcoming UN climate conference in Brazil.
The rules should come into effect from 2027 and affect large ships with more than 5,000 tons of cargo capacity. According to the IMO, these account for 85 percent of the total CO2 emissions from international shipping.
